Selling Daylight
by Cyan Rubies
Summary: For years she wondered where those impossibly loud explosion noises were coming from. When Bakugou Katsuki blasts his way into her life, the mystery is solved- though technically, he had been there since the very beginning. OC-insert.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Boku no Hero Academia in any way except for my OC, Minamoto Morie.**

* * *

Chapter One: Of Notebooks and Art Supplies

* * *

One by one, the cool marbles spun smoothly around her fingertips, and there was a rush as they clunk consecutively onto the surface of her table. On her table there were insults hastily scribbled on, and she scrunched her nose at one particular insult.

 _'Quirkless idiot.'_

Morie easily recognized the handwriting. It was from the boy who sat two sits in front of her, with indistinguishable features and a nasty smile. Briefly, she contemplated shooting one of her marbles at him as payback, but she stopped herself. No point lowering herself to his level, right?

After all, there was no need for her to respond to that insult at all. She did have a quirk, just not one that was obvious. Not only that, she wouldn't even use it at all if becoming a hero wasn't so important to her parents.

It wasn't that she hated her Quirk, using it was impossibly complicated. Using it required a whole ton of theories and calculations- most of which she could hardly bother with. But alas, she had no choice. Unless she slowly mastered it now, it would be a pain to use a few months down the roads should she successfully get into U.A High. With that thought, the marbles spun around her fingers once more.

"Class rep, do you have a problem?" The old geezer who was her teacher squinted his eyes at her and on instinct she smiled. Shit. She had been too obvious in not paying attention.

"There's no problem, sensei. In fact, I was wondering if you would like me to help give out the forms on your table. " Morie placated amiably. She did not attempt to bring up or clean her graffiti-covered table- there was no point in doing that if they were going to doodle on her table everyday until graduation.

The teacher smiled, buying her excuse as he shook his head.

"No need, Minamoto-san. I'm almost done explaining as it is," he said, before he turned away to face the blackboard.

"Now. Career aspiration forms," he spoke, and his voice sounded vaguely like sandpaper. "I'll give you twenty minutes to fill them out, though I think I already know what most of you want to be."

The snickers became more pronounced over the silent class, and twenty minutes later the forms were in and the old geezer was skimming across the pages with a practiced diligence. His shuffle of pages came to a halt as he peered over a particular form in question.

"Minamoto-san. You're aiming to go to Yuuei Academy?" His glasses glinted as he sent a curious look at her general direction. Morie's lips curled up in a smile.

"Yes, sensei."

The outburst of whispers was expected. U.A was an amazing school, with standards leaps and bounds above Sakurazawa Middle School. Some of her classmates snickered. Most remained quiet. She appreciated that.

Mister-indistinguishable-features turned around and gaped at her from two seats in front.

"She doesn't even have a quirk!" He protested. Morie resisted the urge the flick her marble at the back of his rusty head. No doubt that this outburst would fuel the rumors for the next two weeks or so. After all, her quirk wasn't exactly something that was obvious. If the treatment she got in class was an indication on how much quirkless people suffered, she was truly sorry.

"Enough." The teacher frowned. "If I remember correctly, you have a fine quirk Minamoto-san. If you do get into U.A, you would bring honour to Sakurazawa Junior High. Maybe we might even overtake Oridera next door by having a student here get into U.A. Now then, let us split up for career guidance counselling..."

A smile split onto her face. Her teacher was pretty cool, after all.

.

* * *

Sakurazawa Junior High was a humble school, not only in the school motto, but also notably in its achievements. It was an average school, even more average than Oridera Junior High that was a mere few blocks further down the street.

While her school was closer to her home, it meant that she had to walk more if she wanted to visit the shopping district to buy herself some new ink brushes, she had to walk about 10 minutes longer. Oh, the _horror._

Currently she was walking past Oridera Junior High School. It seemed that they had just ended school as well. Normally she wasn't nosy about what went on in other schools, but it seemed that today was an exception.

As she was walking past the building, she vaguely made out yelling. But not just yelling. She heard _explosion noises,_ which made her whip her head towards the direction it came from.

Why was she so particular about that you ask? For the past eleven years of her life, she has been hearing the infuriating explosion noises at home everyday, and to her the source of the explosions might as well be one of the Wonders in the World. She knew that it came from a neighbour perhaps, but she never got to identify who was actually the cause of those insufferable explosion noises.

She highly doubted that whoever was setting off those explosion noises here was the same person who set off explosions back in her neighbourhood, but nevertheless it did make her somewhat curious.

Stopping in her tracks, Morie looked up and stared at the open window on the side of the building. She certainly didn't expect a notebook to come flying out of the said window.

 _Woah, when was she in Death Note?_

Morie gawked at the mystical flying notebook- until it decided to fly straight towards where a tiny pond was.

On instinct, the artist within her panicked. Hell no. Water and paper did not mix. It was a big gigantic 'nope', it was a recipe for _disaster_.

Before she knew it, she was screaming silently (because actual screaming ruined vocal chords) as she scrambled towards the side of the pond, snatching the notebook away before it could become soggy fish food.

Exhaling in relief, her eyes skimmed across the cover of the notebook, thankful that no, it wasn't a crazy supernatural book dropped by some divine entity. Instead, the soaring notebook was called 'Hero Analysis for the Future- no. 13'. Something churned inside her unpleasantly as she flipped through the pages- there were well-documented strategies and analysis of official Heroes.

Impressions ran across her mind as she thought about whoever's notebook this was. Hardworking- even details about Mount Lady, the new hero who had just debuted that very same day was already in the notebook. Meticulous- there were even sketches of the heroes, along with features of their costumes. Even though the drawings were somewhat crude, the numerous eraser markings made it evident that a lot of effort was put in. Who would dishonor such a lovely piece of art?

As she flipped through the book, she stopped at one particular name and frowned.

Who the hell was 'Bakugou Katsuki'? Morie was sure that she was as much as a nerd as the person who wrote this book, but she had never heard of a hero with that name.

Shrugging, she flipped back towards the cover page. Deliberate scorch marks on the books burnt the sides but the rest of the book was untouched.

"Ah." Morie sighed as comprehension dawned upon her. It seemed like she possibly has just found the source of the explosions.

Tilting her head upwards, she glanced up towards the second story window.

"... Now, how do I give this back...?"

.

* * *

With the use of her quirk, she was currently half-supported by the tree next to the window and she leaned onto the window frame. It was an awkward position, but since there wasn't any pedestrians walking past or cameras around, it should be fine.

Morie sighed. It was not her fault that the security guards refused to give her entry, and at the same time she didn't trust them to actually return them to the person if she asked them to.

She hoisted herself nearer to the window frame. It would seem that she was now looking into a classroom. Morie shifted around uncomfortably. Only her arms were supporting her and her legs were resting on the tree branch.

A few tables in front of her, a bunch of dudes surrounded a boy with freckles and green-black hair. Propping herself up further, on instinct she hunched her back so she would not be that easily discovered.

Eh. Two of the people there reminded her of that indistinguishable guy from her own class. The green-haired boy looked timid and fidgety, while the other guy had spiky ash blonde hair and looked like a delinquent.

Mr. Spiky Hair stepped forward towards the green-haired boy, slapping his hand onto the smaller boy's shoulder. It seemed that quite a bit of dialogue had passed when she was struggling with the tree, for what he said sounded much like a hanging threat.

"... So don't apply for U.A, nerd." The blonde's voice was smooth and menacing, and while she couldn't see his face, Morie imagined the same disgusting face that all bullies had when picking on a target.

The apparent nerd's lips quivered, his eyes widening. Before long, his eyes returned back to the floor quickly, and Morie swallowed when she noted that he didn't attempt to fight back. Would that mean that this has been going on for a long time?

The group of bullies began to shuffle out, snickering under their breaths as they did so.

When they reached the door, the ringleader turned around, sneering at the smaller boy. It was lucky that those who looked down on others noticed less things going on around them, because it seemed that she had gone somewhat unnoticed.

Mr Spiky Hair then snarled, revealing sharp teeth and dark red eyes.

"If you want to be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it," his lips curled upwards unpleasantly and she blanched at his words, and she felt sick as he continued on. "Believe that you'll have a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!"

The green-haired boy turned around, his fists shaking by his side, but no words escaped his mouth. He seemed so utterly defeated that her heart ached for him.

Aggressively, Mr. Spiky Hair whirled around, sneering. Flames erupted in the palm of his hand as he did so.

"Have a problem?" He said, his smile stretching menacingly. Immediately, the green-haired boy sputtered in reply but remained silent. The open threat seemed to satisfy him, and Morie glared at the back as the ringleader turned to leave.

Unfortunately, she watched, horrified, as red eyes darted towards the window- where she was. His eyes met hers, and immediately, he stopped in his tracks.

 _Shit._

"Who the hell are you?!" The bully's eyes narrowed and he let out a roar. The green-haired boy turned around and regarded her with wide, green eyes. Morie stared back with wide eyes before her gaze darted back towards the blonde boy.

 _Okay. I've been caught. I just need to stay calm. Fake it till you make it. Right._

Breathing in heavily, she calmed herself down before pushing herself onto the window and jumping down with an air of grace she did not know she possessed.

"Well," Morie spoke, dark brown eyes focusing on the blonde boy as she did so. "I was just minding my own business when _this_ hit me in the face." Her lips curled upwards as she made a show of pulling out the worn notebook from her bag.

( _Don't make it seem like you're defending the boy, if not they might seek payback on the him afterwards._ )

"I come up to see what the whole commotion was, only to see you three picking on this guy over here. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not playing hero here, but I did overhear some major drama going on here." She paused, and made an innocent smile appear on her face.

Morie willed her legs to move towards where the blonde guy was standing, and she ended up leaning against a nearby table. The boy must have took her approach to be an attempt to threaten him, because suddenly he snapped into a fighting stance. Flames sparked across his hands, and his eyes snapped to hers.

"Why, you asking for a fight?" He growled. The flames sparked in his hand menacingly like a series of rampant firecrackers. He loomed over her closer and closer- the gap in their height and physical abilities was made clear as she stared at the boy who was a mere inches in front of her.

Lightly, she cleared her throat and shook her head coolly.

"No, I'm not. But I wonder what would happen if _somehow_ the principal of Oridera Junior High caught wind that not only did you engage in acts of unruly behaviour against a student, you also harmed a student from another school. Furthermore, if that little friend of yours did take 'a last chance dive off the roof', not only would you be deemed a no-good delinquent, you would have instigated a suicide."

The corner of her lips curled up as the flames in his palm ceased to spark. It seemed that this guy wasn't without reason, after all.

"I'm sure U.A High wouldn't accept someone like that, don't you think so too?" Morie's voice sounded innocuous to her ears, and she wondered if she could actually get through this with her bullshit.

It seemed that that was the final prod she needed to give, because Mr. Spiky Hair withdrew his fist, his eyes narrowing. In response, she tucked her hand behind her back. She almost made the mistake of sighing in relief, which would have betrayed the fear she actually felt. Quickly, she caught herself and smiled at the boy in front of her amiably.

Her eyes widened as he suddenly leaned in, his face looming a mere inches away from his. His eyes bored into hers and she marvelled at how filled with malice they were.

"You're full of _shit,_ " He spat, obviously not appreciating her silent threat, though with a final flower he released her and turned to walk away, kicking the door open and trudging away as he did so. His lackeys trailed after him and she was finally able to relax, before Morie stepped forward and shut the door. Somehow, she got an impression that one day he would be back for her blood.

There was a thud as she slumped against it and took a long, much-needed breath.

"I'm alive." She breathed out, as if she was trying to confirm the fact. Seconds later her eyes landed on the person she was defending only a few metres away.

"Dude." Brown eyes shut as she sighed in open amazement. "How the hell do you deal with that guy for so long? He's fucking intense, you're pretty amazing to be able to stand his shit."

The green-haired boy shifted on his feet, obviously not used to attention of any sort. His face showed all her feelings of amazement perfectly.

"W-Who are you?" He squeaked out and in response she flailed her arms and stepped towards him, now beaming.

"Um, I swear that I usually don't go looking for death threats like an idiot. I'm Minamoto Morie, but just call me Rie, please."

His shoulders relaxed and she let out a sigh. Then she remembered why exactly she had bothered coming up here in the first place. Shoving the notebook towards him, she tried to smile but instead she ended up stuttering.

"A-ah, look at the time! I have to go now!"

Morie started towards the window when she heard the boy reply.

"Thanks for helping me, Rie-san! I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way."

She was halfway out of the window when he said that, and awkwardly she turned back to face him.

"No problem, Midoriya. See you at U.A- " Her foot slipped and she silently screamed as she fell- breaking in and out of windows was nasty business, especially with tight uniforms restricting your movement.

(Damn, maybe she just really sucked at this whole hero-business thing.)

"Rie-san?!" Izuku hurried over to the window and was admittedly surprised when he noticed that she was perfectly unscathed and was already hurrying away. She turned around at the mention of her name, seeming pretty surprised when she saw him looking at her through the window concernedly.

"Oh, I'm okay. No need to worry Midoriya!"

Waving at Izuku, Morie hurried away, unashamed pumping her fist as she did so. She felt impossibly happy. If she wasn't wrong, she might have actually made a friend!

Well, now that those five minutes of drama and almost getting scared shitless was over, it was time to head over to the shopping district to get her art supplies. Her _precious_ art supplies. Their fateful meeting has been postponed for absolutely far too long.

.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: All I Wanted Were Art Supplies

* * *

Morie examined the rows of pens, eyes roaming the shelves. The wide array of pens sorted by colour was an impressive and the colours that splashed across her field of vision were bright and aesthetically pleasing- it was a sight she was accustomed to.

Bless the existence of stationary shops.

She scrounged the shelves for the brush pens she wanted, occasionally catching sight of a new brand and idly testing them out against the small pad of paper provided by the side of the shelves, each time taking great care that she capped them properly before slotting them back into where they came from.

A scowl appeared on her face at the lack of the small-sized brushes she needed before she deposited a few ink refills into her basket. She would just have to do without a small brush for now- maybe she could try using something as a makeshift brush? That thought entertained her as she looked on.

Turning around, the shelf with new products caught her eye and her eyes widened. Hurrying over in excitement, Morie began to inspect the rumoured aqua-brush, a brush where you could apparently fill with water and could be used directly with watercolours without having to wash your brush repeatedly. It was such a creative and handy concept that she liked it immediately, decidedly placing the brush into her basket as well, before topping up her supply of watercolour paper.

It would certainly be nice if she could get started on her galaxy painting soon. She wanted to test out her watercolour paints, for one, and her blending skills needed some dire brushing up (no pun intended there).

A good hour flew by as she hovered around in the store aimlessly, testing out different markers and liners with her eyebrows knitted in contemplation. She ended up not adding anything more to her basket, however, she simply made mental notes on which pens were satisfactory and to her liking and which were the ones that were not.

Then, making her way to the counter, she couldn't help but smile at the lack of a queue and she whipped out her well-used membership card. The kind woman behind the counter, Rose beamed down at her in recognition, a bright smile on her shiny face.

"Back again?" The woman questioned. Nodding absent-mindedly and beaming back at her, Morie watched as the woman tugged at her hand which dispensed a plastic bag before she passed over her neatly-wrapped purchased items. Stowing it in her bag, Morie uttered a soft thanks to the woman before she hurried out of the store and onto the busy street.

Almost automatically, she began to hurry down the road that would lead her home. It was an almost impatient urge that she had- she really wanted to test out her new art supplies. If time allowed it, she could even get started on some commissions!

.

Time certainly did not allow it, as that plan went down the drain as soon as she turned the corner and saw that the street had broken out in utter chaos.

Civilians crowded around a side-alley which she recognised as the one she needed to pass through in order to get home. Further inside, flames danced across the nearby buildings as the Heroes-on-duty tried to keep a damage to a minimum, though their efforts seemed somewhat in vain. Even the rising hero, Mount Lady, was unable to do anything as she stood by the side of the alley, not being allowed to enter due to her towering size.

What struck her though, was that at the centre of all that chaos, the villain- a large gelatinous blob of slime- seemed intent on restraining and suffocating a schoolboy. Morie was barely able to make out the iconic Oridera Junior High school uniform belonging to whoever had been caught by the villain and was being held hostage. She watched on, disconcerted and almost unbelieving that something like this was unraveling before her in broad daylight. The trapped student trashed and struggled, and she watched on with poorly-concealed anxiety as none of the heroes made an attempt to save the young student when they could very well die from suffocation.

It was only when the student managed to tear his head away from the villain's grasp, howling with rage and seeming to be fighting for breath, did Morie's eyes widen by a fraction. She _knew_ this guy. She had only seen him before once, mere hours ago, but she wouldn't be able to forget Mr Spiky Hair even if she wanted to.

Softly swallowing, she beheld the horrific sight, attempting to scoot closer to the scene but failing because of her small stature. The crowd was pushing her back even as she attempted to get closer. Briefly she caught wind of some whispering as she eyed the surrounding heroes, willing for anyone, _anyone_ at all to stop the villain.

"The schoolboy that got caught... he's been there for thirty minutes already... When are the heroes going to step in?" The hushed, worried whisper caused her to whip her head around to gape at the scene before her. It seemed that the villain was attempting to suffocate and take Mr Spiky Hair over of sorts, and she could only guess that the razing flames were due to his explosive quirk. But seriously, _thirty minutes_?

Morie watched on, trying to will herself to move as she could only feel herself freeze from shock at the entire situation. Normally, the heroes would have already taken care of the villains but it seemed that today, they were simply unlucky. Was there really no one who's quirks were suited for this? Coukd she do anything to help?

Fixing her eyes upon the boy, she swallowed, her throat feeling dry from the smoke from the flames and the tension in the air.

Surely, the blonde boy was beginning to tire?

But as she watched on, he showed no sign of giving up at all as he fought, trashed and kicked against the slime villain with a stubborn intensity. The sight would have been awe-inspiring if it hadn't been so goddamn terrifying _._

Turning away, Morie took in a deep calming breath as she reassured herself that everything would be okay.

 _No._ A voice within her scolded her for being delusional, and for a moment she squeezed her eyes shut and wrung her hands together. _This is not fucking okay._

.

But the moment she opened her eyes, she was met incredulously with the sight of a small and green-haired Midoriya Izuku dashing towards the scene in what seemed to be reckless abandonment. She waited with bated breath, waiting for some sign that he was going to use his quirk, but when nothing happened, her mouth parted when the earlier events of the say clicked in her mind as she realised that he was in fact _quirkless._

In horror, she watched as Midoriya threw his schoolbag at the villain. His fingers wrenched and fumbled as he attempted to free Mr Spiky Hair from the villain, his voice resoundingly loud in spite of his obvious fear.

"I- You seemed to be calling for help, Kacchan!" He all but shouted. Something wrenched unpleasantly within her as she recalled the earlier treatment Midoriya received from Mr Spiky Hair, but watched Midoriya fight to keep the boy alive surely put a twist to her perspective. There was some sort of history between the two, that was for sure.

Shaking off the numb feeling in her legs, she just about took a step forward before a blur of yellow and blue rushed past her.

Morie recognised the golden hair and brilliant smile almost immediately- it was the symbol of Peace, All Might. She was barely able to move before she was quite literally blown away by his might as a rush of wind tore through the crowd. Moments later, she pulled herself up from the ground and looked up, anticipating a confrontation, only to see that there was none.

All Might had blown the villain away from Mr Spiky Hair and saved him. He saved them all. He always did.

Stepping forward, she wanted to check on how Midoriya was doing though she was quickly discouraged from doing so as several heroes rounded up on him almost immediately, severely telling him off for his actions. On the other hand, they showered the blonde delinquent with praise, and she turned away at the sight feeling sour.

Midoriya, the poor boy, was sorely underappreciated.

Casting a last glance at the scene, she turned away and hurried off to head home. She would rather avoid the road that was currently blocked with heroes and reporters as much as possible. With that in mind, Morie began her long detour home, guilt gnawing within her for standing by and watching when quirkless Midoriya had the courage to approach the villain.

 _Pathetic_ , she thought miserably. _What is the use of having a quirk if you don't use it?_

After managing to make her way around the road, she was relieved to find that she had somehow managed to wander back to the main street where her home was at. Turning the corner, she strode up to her house, fiddling around in her bag for her keys almost glumly.

When shuffled footsteps drew close and stopped at the house next to hers, however, she blanched. Her mother had barely introduced her to any neighbours- with the exception of Masaru-san who lived next door- and most people in this neighbourhood tended to mind their own business and did not care much for socialising, herself included (regrettably). Turning around, she casually glanced down the street where someone was standing, only to freeze when her eyes registered spiky ash-blonde hair and red eyes staring right at her.

 _Shit._  
.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Revelations

* * *

Mr Spiky Hair was hunched over, five metres down the road and clad in the black uniform of Oridera Junior High, his bag slung over a shoulder. He certainly hadn't been there earlier, but it seemed like he had taken the route Morie dubbed Shortcut #3 back home from the city.

There was a tense silence as she held her breath almost instinctively as his red eyes met hers and narrowed. To say that he was in a bad mood was an understatement- it was more than evident in the dullness in his expression and his posture.

A sharp stab of fear shot through her in that moment- she could very well remember the way he had looked at her with such loathing back in the classroom, the way he easily made her feel like a pest that he had granted mercy. When he spoke, his voice was low, menacing, and very much annoyed.

"If it isn't the dipshit from earlier," the blonde leered, baring the edges of sharp, pointed teeth.

Morie suppressed the powerful urge to cower and run into her house. Instead, she drew up to her full height, defiantly meeting his gaze and she unwittingly scowled at him.

Now that she was alone, however, her bravado was hardly convincing and it easily betrayed how unnerved she was by his sudden appearance.

"Well, um, of course, I sort of live here." She blurted out before she mentally slapped herself for that terrible response- at least she hadn't stuttered.

"I mean, I could say the same about you," she retorted unsurely. _Smooth, Morie, smooth,_ a voice drawled, dripping with sarcasm as she forced herself to breathe so she could just calm down and cease making a fool of herself. Her dark eyes instantly seeked to gauge his reaction and she was surprised by what she saw, nonetheless.

Morie had been expecting an outburst of sorts, like the extreme and violent reaction that he had taken on when he saw her by th\e window of his class a mere few hours ago. A few punches to the gut, maybe, or being yanked around like a rag-doll. If he was feeling kind, maybe he would even just set fire to her hair.

(Holy shit why has she never seen him before if he lived just next door?)

But instead, the ash blonde-haired boy simply glowered at her, evidently questioning her intelligence, as if he was not in the mood to deal with her overwhelming awkwardness. A few moments passed before he jabbed a thumb towards his house and bit out.

"Isn't it obvious? I live here too, dipshit."

"Oh."

Morie stated dumbly, even though she had already put two and two together and realised that he was indeed the neighbour who had interrupted her peaceful afternoons god-knows-how-many-times with those blasted explosion noises (no pun intended, of course).

For a moment, there was silence as she scrutinised him, eyes lingering on his expression of plain disinterest. It struck her as odd that he didn't seem bothered by her not-threat from earlier- he seemed like the type to hold grudges. It was almost as though he simply didn't care- couldn't be bothered to deal with someone who wasn't him.

As he turned slightly, however, she was surprised to see that she had been wrong about him- at least this time. There was stiffness and a kind of glum broodiness that hung around him, and abruptly the scene of him relentlessly struggling against that slime villain earlier flashed across her mind.

A vague understanding flashed through her mind.

Of course, he was tired, and probably just not physically, too. It was a miracle that he could even summon a strength to walk after having been trapped in the struggle against the villain for more than thirty minutes. At any rate, that would explain why he was significantly less of an asshole currently- he wasn't in the mood.

 _Well, you have to give him credit for holding off that villain for so long,_ she mused.

Mr Spiky Hair then moved to unlock his front door, seemingly done with the need to converse, and she found herself calling out after him for a reason unknown to herself. Her voice sounded soft to herself, and it was a miracle that he even stopped at all.

"What's your name?" She managed to say it unblushingly this time, and she smiled at that ruefully. If she was him, she would have simply ignored the question; but it goes to show that the boy before her was worlds apart from her.

He stared at her, red eyes flickering with suspicion, before he shot back impatiently.

"None of your business."

"Mr Spiky Hair it is, then," Morie replied, beaming. Inwardly, she groaned in horror at how she just blurted that out. Admittedly, she did enjoy getting on people's nerves, (or rather, it was just something that she managed to do), but that normally applied to citizens who wouldn't blow up her face. She was sorely surprised by herself- did she really want to get mauled by this guy right now? This guy knew where she lived, for goodness' sake, have some sense!

Mr Spiky Hair scowled at that, sticking a hand into his pocket as he turned around, red eyes still narrowed at her and very much resembling slits. A look of condescension flickered across his face and for a moment she could just _see_ him thinking 'this little shit does _not_ deserve to know my name'.

(Surprisingly, he gave in, though for his own reasons rather than hers.)

"Bakugou Katsuki," he slowly stated, sounding irritated beyond words. The look of distrust did not dissipate even as he growled, "Now leave me the fuck _alone_."

He briskly stalked off into his house and shut- no, slammed the door behind him without another word.

 _Thank goodness that's over,_ she thought.

Morie stared after him for a bit, letting out a sigh of relief at her relatively intact physical state, (not that she had tried to do much to preserve it), before similarly heading into her house and shutting the gate behind her. It was when she thought of his name did she giggle a bit, though out of good humour more than anything.

Bakugou Katsuki. Explosions. How very fitting.

(Well, at least now she had a name to place with those red eyes and spiky hair of his.)

* * *

Leaning into her hand, she watched on in ill-disguised interest as various states of cutlery was levitated from the kitchen to the dining room. Chopsticks and soup spoons hovered and clanged on the table insistently. Getting up to help carry the dishes, she immediately felt a force restricting her from moving and looked up to see her father sending her a wink.

The said man was casually carrying out a pot of stew from the kitchen. As he set it down on the table, rice scooped themselves out into three bowls and Morie slumped back in her seat.

She had been watching her father's quirk at work for approximately all fifteen years of her life, but she had never gotten bored by the sight of hovering and dancing objects in the air.

Minamoto Chika was gifted with an extremely impressive quirk- that is, the gift of telekinesis, which went by the name of Force. Seemingly effortlessly, he could make objects move just by visualising it in his mind. She had always been somewhat envious of the freedom he was granted with his advanced quirk, but her mother had reassured her that her own quirk was able to be just as good if she could just master it.

Her rice hovered towards her just as some eggs split themselves on her rice. A ladle full of stew poured itself out over her bowl and a pair of chopsticks flew into her hands for the taking.

"Thanks for the meal," she grumbled at his blatant showing-off, before nonetheless clapping her hands together and digging in.

Minutes later, Morie looked up at the front door expectantly and as if on cue, it swung open and her mother stepped in, looking fittingly windswept. Her brown hair hung loosely in a bun as she shut the door and removed her heels. Minamoto Fū wore a black suit, which elegantly fit to her form and contrasted nicely with her white tie.

It was like a ritual- her mother would without fail change out of her hero costume before she reached home- not that she needed the costume to be intimidating. It would have actually made things feel a bit more normal if it weren't for the fact that her father used Force for practically _everything_.

 _Does he have to use Force for everything?_ She silently grumbled for the umpteenth time.

"Of course." Her father answered, sending him a winning smile like how he always did while answering her (unsaid) queries. "Remember, the more you use your quirk, the more better you get at it, honey."

Morie fake-gagged at the nickname and mimed choking on her food.

"Come to think about it, Yuuei's entrance exams will be in a few months," she heard her mother call from the bedroom. "Better start your training, dear."

"Don't fret, Mori, I'll overlook your training myself," her father beamed from across the table, his glasses glinting ominously.

Morie took one look at her father's cheery expression, and promptly shivered. Her father may not be a professional Hero, but she knew slave drivers when she saw them.

"Aren't I the luckiest," she grumbled lowly, watching as her father's grin widened and scowling as her mother laughed at her from somewhere further in the house.

(It seemed that now was an opportune time to get herself some health insurance, it looked like her father meant business.)

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **In which Bakugou is too worn-out to give a shit about Morie/ Morie needs health insurance now. May her father go easy on her.**

 **What are your thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: It's Stressful

* * *

"Isn't mom's quirk more relevant to mine?" Morie spoke, huffing as she did circuits for the umpteenth time. "No offense," she added hastily after a few moments, for fear of offending her father.

Beads of sweat trickled down as her face was flushed a bright red from exercise. Her arms were aching and her lungs were positively burning. All in all, it wasn't the most fun she had.

"No, no, mom's quirk is controlled by her will, see. Ours require visualisation- though I admit that yours is more ...demanding. Nothing you can't work around, though." Her father replied, dangling a counter showing the number of push-ups she has done. He made the numbers change every time she pushed back up, allowing her to have clear sight of her progress.

She scrunched up her face at his statement. _That's unfair,_ the young girl sighed inwardly. _Must be nice to have a quirk that you can control without thinking so much._

An invisible force jabbed her sharply in her shoulder, causing her to jolt and wince. Her father frowned at her, sighing. "I know what you're thinking, and you're going to have to do star-jumps later for that. The world is unfair, Mori, and you're going to have to deal with it."

Morie remained silent, only screaming in her head as loudly as possible. Could her father sense her thoughts now, she wondered?

"I hear _coherent thoughts_ , and only when I want to," her father corrected. Morie sank down to do a push up, and continued her internal screaming nonetheless.

" _NotdoingthistospiteyouI'mjustdyingfromthepain-_ " She managed to bite out in one breath just in case her father was under the impression that she did not understand the point he was trying to make and was feeling particularly spiteful. Morie understood, certainly, but until she was more mature there would always be this part of her which would remain butt-hurt over the type of quirk she had gotten.

Needless to say, walking had never been such a struggle until her father had taken it upon himself to look after her somewhat neglected physical conditioning.

.

They had started on quirk training about 3 months before graduation and subsequently the entrance exam- which wasn't a lot of time, in her opinion. It all reminded her of how she normally studied the day before her exams. The upside to her father deciding to prioritise her physical training was that she was now able to endure the side-effects of her quirk better. The downside? There was still a lot she had to work on with regard to her control. However, this would hopefully, this would have better results than her usual academic endeavours.

(The keyword was _hopefully._ )

"No, dad, please don't cook up a feast," Morie protested. "I don't think my stomach is up for it now."

It was already the day of the entrance exam, and she was walking to the table, feeling very much sick and without an appetite. Her dad stood in the kitchen, whipping up breakfast while her mom read the paper at the table, looking up and smiling at her as she approached.

"Stop looking so nervous, kid," her mom laughed, ushering her to sit down and patting her on the back. Morie sighed and resumed wringing her hands together.

It was a relief that muscle memory was not fickle, unlike the brain and its ability to remember things. If this was the day of mid-terms or finals, her mind would have gotten wiped clean from her nervousness. That would have certainly been a nightmare.

A tap on the dining table broke her from her reverie as her father set down a mug of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs.

"Normally I wouldn't let you drink coffee but you do look like you need this," her father stated, giving a little sniff. "Don't want you falling asleep while taking the exam."

Morie smiled at that. Stabbing some egg with her chopsticks, she smiled at the taste of pepper and the faint fragrance of herbs- just the way she liked it.

"Thanks." She beamed at her parents. After eating, she did feel somewhat better now that there was something in her stomach- and not to mention, some last minute protein couldn't hurt, either.

"We better leave for the station now if we don't want to be late," her mom stated. "Make sure you have everything."

"Yes, mom," was the automatic reply as she finished off her breakfast and grabbed her bag, quickly heading to put on her shoes. She called out a goodbye to he father before she stepped out and locked the door, hurrying after her mother.

"Will you be helping to supervise the exams?" Morie couldn't help but wonder out loud.

"Unfortunately not. I'm going over to help Shiketsu High- you know, the school your cousin got accepted in."

She briefly made a face at the mention of her prodigious cousin, who had been gifted with a powerful wind manipulation quirk much like her mother's. When she was younger, she had been oh-so-sorely jealous that he had seemingly gotten the long end of the stick, and she the short one- but alas, a long time has passed since then and she was already over it.

More or less, at least. Now, her only gripe about him was his brashness and over-enthusiasm- her own lack of which has often resulted in her getting earfuls of impassioned lectures from him.

(Oh, the _horror_.)

Despite her inner grievances, she remained silent, and the silence tided over to the train ride until her mom broke it, petting her on her back and beaming.

"Yuuei Station. Do your best, kiddo."

Morie stepped out of the train, stopping and waiting until the train- and subsequently, the sight of her mother were gone. Then she followed the crowd of people swarming out of the station, noting the various differing specks of colour- school uniforms- which were dotted through the station. She herself was glad in the white and deep purple uniform that belonged to Sakurazawa Junior High. She was suddenly shoved into a student beside her by an impatient asshole, and inwardly she panicked, before hastening to regain her balance.

"Sorry," she spoke, cringing at her own carelessness, turning to look at the person she had bumped into. "Are you okay?"

The boy she had bumped into ( - _that was some amazing blue hair, not to mention the fact that she related on a personal level with his dead expression and the bags under his eyes-_ ) glanced back at her with muted surprise, though he remained sullenly silent. There was an awkward silence in which she wanted to look away to avoid the said awkward silence, but in the end he decided against ignoring her, seemingly feeling obligated after having sensed the awkwardness as well.

"Yes," was all he said, and without another word he disappeared into the crowd of people ahead. When the last of blue hair disappeared from view at last, Morie let out a sigh of relief as she hastened to make herself blend in with the rest of the crowd as they collectively headed towards the U.A.

 _Why did I sign myself up for this again?_

.

* * *

"Welcome all of you to my live show! Everyone, say hey!"

The slience was deafening. There might as well have been cricket noises as the assembly of students stared at him blankly. Morie fidgeted in her seat, feeling somewhat in awe that it was really Present Mic in person. She did feel sorry for him, however as she stared up at him from the first row at the rather lackluster response (or lack thereof altogether).

The Voice-type Hero was persistent, however. He tried to get a response again.

"What a refined response. Alright, I'm getting shivers down my spine! I'm going to give you an idea on how this is going to go down, now! Listeners, are you ready?!" His words were punctuated by the silence. Out of obligation, Morie mumbled out a 'yeah' in response.

Present Mic beamed at her. "An enthusiastic response, how fantastic! Now pay close attention, listeners..."

Straightening up, she fixed her eyes on the screen ahead, absorbing in the details of what made up their entrance exam: in a nutshell, it seemed that everyone would be made to split up, and they would have to earn points by busting robots and earning points as much as possible. She did notice a discrepancy though- on the handout given, there was a fourth kind of robot mentioned. Perhaps it was like those in-game obstacles, or something of the like? Either way, the test looked far from easy, and this was just the practical exam.

 _Am I strong enough for this?_ She questioned silently, glumly sticking her hand in her pocket where she fidgeted with a spare marble as she tried to shake off her anxious feelings. _What am I getting myself into?_

"Excuse me!" The sudden interruption made her jolt up and turn towards the new speaker- some guy two rows behind her who wore spectacles. "There are clearly four Villains listed in this hand-out! Such an error would be the peak of embarrassment for an academy of Yuuei's caliber! The reason we are all seated here is because we are all seeking to be Heroes!"

 _Present Mic has yet to finish the presentation._ Morie drawled in her mind ruefully at that boy's statement. _And even if they did make a mistake, isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?_

She raised an eyebrow as the boy suddenly stiffly turned to point at someone behind him somewhere. Following his direction, she vaguely made out the outline of a meek-looking curly-haired boy in the dark room... wasn't that Midoriya?

"And you! Can't you keep still for a minute? You're distracting everyone else, stop mumbling to yourself! If you think Yuuei is some pleasure jaunt, please leave right away!"

Morie frowned. Normally, she didn't enjoy public speaking, though the sight of Midoriya looking terribly ashamed and embarrassed made her feel terrible- he didn't deserve being pointed out and humiliated like that, did he? Maybe if she did something to divert the attention away from him... ?

"Please give him a break," her voice was never on the loud side and had never been, but in the silence of the room it could be heard somewhat well. She made sure that her words were as placating as possible, with no direct accusations or negative connotations- if she didn't give him a reason to jump down her throat, she assumed he would not. Better to avoid unnecessary drama. "I'm sure all of us are excited here."

As the boy turned around to look for the source of the response he got, his eyes landed on her, and she shot him a small smile. She doubted anyone else, other than those sitting next to her would be able to identify her as the one who had spoken in the darkness of the room.

"Thank you for your input, Examinee 7111!" Present Mic boomed suddenly, moving along as he addressed the said examinee's question. "The fourth and last type of robot is worth zero points! Let's call them 'Arena Traps'!"

 _'Ah, like Super Mario Bros?'_ Morie remarked in her mind mentally as a wave of nostalgia surged through her. _'My sad childhood.'_

"With one in every area their gimmick makes them go on a rampage in crowded areas!" The Pro-Hero added shortly, and Morie straightened up from her seat. So she was right, basically. Those things were to be avoided at all costs- they looked to be nothing but trouble.

It was then did the boy behind look embarrassed at his earlier outburst. Bowing quickly, he jolted up and replied. "Thank you very much! I apologise for my interruption and earlier rudeness!"

Morie smiled at the glasses wearer. Despite his earlier bluntness, it seemed that he was simply professional in his mindset and maybe somewhat of a hasty person? No, more like he was hasty in forming impressions. His whole demeanour was pretty noteworthy in itself, however- was he from a prestigious family, by any chance? It would certainly explain his uptight-ness.

Finally, Present Mic brought his presentation to an arousing end. "PLUS ULTRA! May you all gladly suffer through the trials ahead!"

Whether to laugh or cry at that, she did not know. It was certainly heartening to see their pro-heroes so willing to make them suffer. Well, all was fair when you're trying to raise a pack of children to be the next generation of heroes.

Silently, she stood up from her seat and followed the others in exiting, keeping her designated area in mind. As she walked past where Midoriya had been seated just now, she smiled to see that he was still there- being the nice guy he was, he was waiting for the others to pass by him, much to the annoyance of the boy behind him.

"Hey, Midoriya," she said softly, raising her hand in a small wave. "All the best later on- you too, Bakugou. I guess."

Morie forced a laugh at the glower the ash-blonde hair boy sent her, resisting the urge to shrink away.

What had she done to make him so hostile, anyway?

Right, she threatened to rat out his bullying deeds to Yuuei, and she had hated him for his acts of bullying. That changed when she saw him trapped by the Villain, however- if she could get over the past, why couldn't he? _Who knows?_ A voice in her mind piped up sardonically, causing her to roll her eyes. _Maybe he's just being a petty little bitch._

She told herself off for that- firstly, who was she to judge him for holding grudges and secondly, she was certain she could come up with a better insult should the need show itself. With that thought in mind, Morie waved goodbye to Deku as she set off to her designated area, feeling a sort of tingle in her fingertips as she fidgeted around with the marbles in her pocket.

'Good luck,' she wished herself and resisted the urge to laugh. 'By the way, you seriously need friends if you're telling that to yourself.'

 _'No shit, conversations with yourself are perfectly normal.'_

All in the day of a socially-awkward teen.

Stopping at her designated area, what seemed to be a perfect copy of an urban city lay before them, undoubtedly only one out of many. As she did some light warm-ups, her eyes roamed the group of competitors briefly, before they darted back to the gigantic city. She wasn't even surprised that they could afford building a place and set killer robots inside of it. Heroes were ridiculously rich, what, did they collect taxes?

(Well, time to get her ass kicked.)

"What are you waiting for? Run! There's no countdown in a real battle!"

Morie jolted up at Present Mic's voice and bolted through the doors as soon as she heard Present Mic saying 'What are you waiting for?' Notably, she wasn't the only one- out dashed a boy with red-hair and a girl with what looked seemed to be vines for hair. At least she had gotten herself a head start.

Everything here seemed to be predictable in the sense that it was always _un_ predictable, and while she couldn't say she liked it, she didn't hate it either. It did make things a lot more interesting, per say.

Beaming as she ran forward, she turned a corner and was immediately faced with a robot- a two-pointer. Figures that such a ridiculously large robot would be worth only two points. Morie ran forward to engage the robot before anyone else could show up.

A large robotic hand suddenly surged forward to smash her into a pancake, and for a moment she froze in fear. But then she remembered that she _really_ did not relish the idea of dying-slash-getting severely mauled, and Morie allowed her instincts to kick in as she skidded sideways and leaped onto the hand, forcing herself into action. Running up the robotic arm, she clung on as it swung her around, and jumped onto its head, hanging on for dear life where she immediately pressed her hand to the cool metal below her.

 _Splendid. It's hollow_! She cheered inwardly, before attempting to sense where the robot's so-called 'brain' was.

It was there, a foreign object made of metal within the sea of air molecules, pulsing and giving off waves of energy. Tugging on the tingling sensation in her fingers, she closed her eyes and imagined the particles gathering around the object, as if the air molecules were trying to procure some robot brain juice...

With a sizzle, the object exploded, and the robot halted in its movements. As she leapt off the robot onto a nearby building (nearly falling off in the process), the robot fell forward and hit the ground, lifeless and unmoving, littering the ground with sizzling sparks.

( _Two points.)_

The brown-haired girl took off running. There was no time to celebrate or get complacent- after all, the battle has just begun.

 _._

The sounds of combat were raging all throughout the city now, a stark contrast to the earlier dead silence that had hung around the lifeless city. Morie had set off once more, a determined look knitted on her features, beginning her search for her next target.

"Look out!" A voice shouted hoarsely, echoing from somewhere behind her.

Though 'look out' was honestly not the best warning one could give, she whirled around in surprise as a robot- a three-pointer slammed her against the side of a building. As she struggled to break free, a whirl of red appeared in her peripheral vision as she was suddenly broken free from the robot's grasp, and gratefully she took the time to recover from her assault as her saviour, a boy with wild red hair, beat the robot down. His hands, she noted, had seemingly solidified and was currently much resembling a rock.

"Thanks!" Morie called out to him. The boy sent her a thumbs-up, beaming brilliantly before he hurried off, presumably to get more points. She took this as a cue to leave and dashed off as well- who knew how much time they had left?

It was utter chaos, she thought, as she made to separate herself from the cluster of people who were gathered at the middle of the urban city. Instead, she chose the most desolate paths and took on the robots she encountered respectively. It was a far more straightforward routine than she had first expected, and it quickly became a programmed cycle of _rinse, wash, and repeat_ as she attacked the approaching robots.

Vaguely, Morie wondered if one day these same students would be subduing villains the same way. It was just a passing thought, but she found it oddly disturbing.

Blowing up a one-pointer, she flexed her fingers and breathed heavily. Ignoring the growing ache in her muscles, she jogged round the corner only to catch sight of the blue-haired boy she had bumped into earlier. He had been walking along the desolate street by himself, and the three-pointer that lurked behind him went unnoticed. Currently, its robotic arm was a mere seconds away from striking.

Eyes widening, Morie sprinted forward, tugging the blue-haired boy out of the way as the robots hand smashed the ground where the both of them have been moments ago.

"Are you okay?" She asked, glancing at the boy and offering a hand. Once both of them were up, she launched into an assault on the robot, blowing off the cover on the back of the three-pointer and exposing the wires which lay beneath it.

"Hey, you want to finish it off?" Morie asked the boy. He shot her a perplexed look, the dark circles under his eyes looking increasingly pronounced as he did so, clearly not understanding why she didn't want to finish off the robot by herself - to which she sheepishly offered her explanation.

"You were the one it found," she stated amiably, offering him the handful of wires which protruded from the back of the robot. The boy accepted the offer wordlessly, seizing the handful of wires with a mildly contemplative expression on his features. With a tug, the wires snapped in a burst of sparks, and the three-pointer went down.

"Thanks," he mumbled softly. Morie beamed at him, shaking her head in a 'no problem' gesture, before she hastily decided to leave and find more robots.

"Three minutes left!" Present Mic's voice boomed over the microphone.

At that, her eyes darted around in a panic. _Only twenty-four points,_ she thought. _I need more._

Quickly, a one-pointer came her way and she jumped at the robot, visualising air within the robot pushing outwards. The robot's head burst apart, and she took a step back and surveyed the wreckage, an odd sense of calm falling over her. As she ran on, she suddenly found that somehow, she was back at the central part of the city, where majority of the students were gathered. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as to how she ended up back here again after taking care to not bump into more people than necessary.

Maybe it was a shortcut, or a planned-out route to the city. Or maybe...

 _A trap._

"Two minutes!"

Present Mic's voice was sounding more and more like an impending death sentence as the minutes ticked on.

Shaking off her fatigue, Morie looked up, eyes widening as a tremor seemed to run through the city. In an explosion of smoke and dust, a gigantic figure loomed before them. Instinctively, her eyes widened at the sight of what could only be the Arena Trap itself- a monster of a robot that made all the other robots they faced so far look adorable in comparison.

Frozen with horror, Morie could only stand there rooted as others shoved past her as they ran for their lives.

The words _'it goes on a rampage in narrow spaces', you are in a bloody narrow space!'_ repeated themselves in her mind continuously, screaming at her to bolt for it. The robot surged forward, as if coming towards her, and she made to flee, swallowing down her trepidation as she willed herself to run for her life.

But as she made to look at Arena Trap, she realised that she wasn't the target of the monster at all.

On the rooftop nearest to the zero-pointer, a figure with red-hair was rapidly dashing away with all his might. How and when he got up there, she didn't know, but one thing was for certain- he was in dire trouble.

Then with a resounding slam, the top of the building was destroyed in a explosion of rubble as the robot rounded in on the boy, and her eyes grew wide as the sheer force of the blow sent the boy with crimson-hair plunging off the building and down towards the streets far below.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Cliffhanger time.**

 **What are your thoughts for this chapter? And out of curiosity, what would you like to see happening in this story in the future?**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Miracles

* * *

It was as if time was passing by in slow-motion.

Maybe it was just adrenaline doing its job, but suddenly, Morie found herself dashing forward, trying to get as close to the falling boy as possible. Her limbs burned from the effort as she continued to close the distance, sharp stabs of fear making itself known to her with each second ticking past.

Five metres. She only needed to be five metres near where the boy was going to fall, she _had_ to make it or he was going to die. Morie never claimed to be a saint (or rather, a hero), but she couldn't just can't leave someone to fall to his death, much less the boy with the kind smile who had saved her earlier. It did seem liket he had a hardening quirk, if memory served her correctly, but she highly doubted that his quirk was enough to save him from a fall of that height and magnitude. If his quirk hardened his skin, she didn't see how his internal organs would be able to stand the impact.

Bringing her hands together, Morie stopped, taking in a deep breathe as she tugged at her quirk. Fingertips tingling, she sensed the air particles around her moving, adjusting the force with which they moved, visualising the particles moving in a motion akin to a vertex, traveling from high pressure to low pressure.

It still wasn't spinning fast enough, however- if the winds were to intercept the boy's fall as they were now, he would surely die.

Biting her lip, she pressed her fingers together and tediously pictured the air molecules spinning faster and faster, eyes pinpointing the area with the highest pressure and increasing the speed of the resulting wind by forcing the pressure gradient to steepen. The wind whistled around her, swirling up to receive the boy and slow his fall. Then the air begin to slow down as it swirled some more, the pressure only being released the moment the boy made contact with the ground in one piece- groaning, probably in a daze, but very much alive.

Morie smiled. The robot shifted its arm, causing large pieces of concrete to come crashing towards her. But it was like a tear was ripping through her brain, and her world was spinning- she had long since passed her limit for her quirk use, and clumsily she tried to step out the way.

Someone dragged her out of the way just as the concrete was about to make contact with her, and in a daze she focused (or tried to focus) on the figure next to her. It was the guy with red hair who had recovered quickly, and as she took in red eyes and a concerned expression, she hated herself for her moment of weakness.

"Thanks- and don't worry, just overused my Quirk," she said earnestly, wincing as another migraine ripped its way through her mind sharply, leaving her vision woozy- did the guy just multiply? Which copy was she talking to, even?

The copies did fade back into one eventually as he began to lead her away down a side-road to escape the view of the robot, even helping her move in the process, to which she protested slightly. The buzz in her head grew persistently, and she frowned.

"There's barely a minute left, you shouldn't waste this opportunity to get more points on me." Morie spoke, staring up at him and frowning. Mr Red Hair frowned at that suggestion, slinging her arm over his shoulder as the duo hobbled away from the humongous robot the best they could.

"Nah, I owe you my life," he said in response, firmly shaking his head. "Must have overused my quirk- I could barely get my Hardening to hold as I was falling. I was so sure that I was going to just die like that, for a moment."

"You saved me twice, though. I'm the one who owes you," she insisted, brows furrowing. Stumbling, it was only then did she reluctantly accept his help whole-heartedly, only relaxing slightly when Present Mic's voice boomed overhead.

"And time's up! Any severe injuries? No? Splendid! Please make your way to the assembly area outside so that our medic may tend to you more easily."

Simultaneously, the duo turned to stare at the Arena Trap, which was suddenly unmoving. Both of them let out a sigh of relief, which quickly turned into laughter at how in-sync they were.

Morie smiled at the strange irony of the situation. "After all that, it's hard to believe that I don't even know your name," she lamented out of the blue, before pausing to look at the boy next to her with poorly-concealed curiosity. "What _is_ your name, in any case?"

"You're right- it's pretty crazy, right?" He chuckled. "Kirishima Ejirou, to answer your question."

Kirishima tapped his fist against his chest in a gesture which much resembled a fist-pump. She mirrored it somewhat, placing her hand to her chest as she mock-bowed.

"Minamoto Morie, at your service." A grin appeared on her lips, filled with mirth from her own silliness. "You have my heartfelt thanks for saving my ass countless times in this past ten minutes," she quipped pseudo-seriously, eliciting a snort from the red-haired boy.

"Well, thanks for breaking my fall and saving my hide. And your quirk is really cool, you can control wind and stuff!" He exclaimed, and Morie laughed softly at how awe-struck he sounded. Seriously, she didn't deserve that much credit- not when she could have messed up controlling the pressure of those goddamned air molecules and be the cause of his death.

"Nope, I can't control wind, or anything like that." She corrected gently. It was a misconception many had, an assumption she was pretty much used to. "See, I control pressure- so in a way I can control air direction by changing pressure and making wind flow from one place to another."

"Woah," he breathed, and she smiled at his almost-childlike amazement. It was honestly extremely adorable, not that she would tell him that for fear of hurting his pride. "Pressure is cool too. My own quirk seems boring compared to everyone else's here."

A look of understanding flashed across her expression as that statement hit close to home. "I can understand how you feel," she sighed, before raising an arm to pat him on his shoulder. "But honestly? I think your quirk is pretty cool, too. It's tough and reliable, and it suits you. You know what I mean?"

"So in short, you think I'm ...manly?" Kirishima stated, a wide smile forming on his face, sounding just a tad bit surprised.

 _You could say that, I guess._

Morie straightened up and let out a small huff at his evident disbelief, her voice not hesitant in the slightest as she replied.

"Manly," she emphasised slowly, "is a massive understatement, Kirishima. You were pretty goddamn brave out there."

His eyes took on a bright shine. After a while, he became so bright that it was almost impossible to look at him, what with the immense joy he was radiating. One glance at him would give the same effect as looking at a particularly adorable and determined kid or cute cat-slash-baby animal pictures.

 _This guy,_ Morie thought, taking in his contagious grin, _was too good for the world._

"You were brave too, Minamoto," he responded, obviously flattered from her earlier comment. She flushed slightly, unused to being called 'brave'- she didn't really deserve to be called that, in her opinion- not when she was just doing the right thing. Compliments always had their way of making her feel awkward, though Kirishima sounded so genuine that she couldn't help but feel flustered instead.

"Not really," she denied automatically. "Just got to do what you got to do, y'know?

They stopped in their footsteps once they reached the entrance of the urban city. At the lack of life within the city, it seemed that everyone had already made it outside and they were the only ones left. Morie gaped as she saw a small figure approaching the group of students from the distance, holding on to a small walking stick as she walked among the injured, administering the injured and handing out gummies.

"It's R-recovery Girl!" She gasped in excitement. The presence of the said hero made a lot of sense, now that she thought of it- if they didn't have someone who specialised in healing around, it was hard to see how they could have gone through with such a dangerous test without having to worry about suffering grievances from angry parents- not to mention potentially crippling their future generation of heroes.

"Hey, let's meet again in Yuuei. When we make it in." Kirishima stated abruptly, looking thoughtful for a moment. The good-meaning of the statement, however, caused a mild look of chagrin to flash over her features.

Even the sight of Recovery Girl or seeing the red-haired boy gush over the gummies he got from her couldn't lighten her spirits in that moment as a revelation hit her. After all, she had only gotten a measly amount of twenty-four points- and that was hardly enough to pass.

.

* * *

 _I feel like shit._

"No swearing, young lady," her father stated, shaking his head. Morie sent him a blank look, before proceeding to kick him out of her mind (she should do this more often), putting up shields against him. Some days, she just was not in the mood to deal with her parent's antics- and today was evidently one of those days.

Minamoto Chika frowned at his daughter. The last time she had blocked him out of her mind was when she was nine and angry at him for making her see her cousin (who she didn't seem to be fond of). Personally he had suspected some sort of mental name-calling going on in that head of hers then, and had felt more proud than offended at the fact that she managed to block off her mind from his probing.

Today, however, was different.

"You're getting back your results of your application today, aren't you?" He asked, as he turned back to brewing coffee.

"Yes, dad." Came the stiff response, and he turned to see her unmoving on the sofa, seemingly reading a book. Interestingly enough, her eyes were frozen, fixed at the same paragraph throughout a span of five minutes. Upon closer inspection, the tips of her fingers were trembling just in the slightest.

His daughter had always had a bad case of nerves, and a startling low amount self-confidence (maybe he was exaggerating, but that was the impression he got from her awkward behaviour and general jitteriness). When he had confided in his wife, however, she had been fairly unperturbed by the revelation, and instead looked like she knew all along.

("She's growing up," had been her only comment back then. "Let her find herself, Chika. Give her time.")

"- The mail's here, kid." Fū called from the doorstep, breaking the man out of his thoughts. "Here's your letter."

With a quiet 'thank you', Morie accepted the letter, trepidation evident in her features. The young girl looked like she was going to be sick- her fair complexion looking like a pasty pale shade. Coupled with her long brown hair, it was not an understatement to say that she could star as some ghost girl from those famous horror movies.

"Will she be alright?" He pondered out loud as his young daughter disappeared from sight without another word.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Fū stated, calmly seating herself at the table as she sipped some tea. "She'll be fine."

* * *

.

Morie eyed the metal disk that had popped out of her envelope suspiciously after she painstakingly peeled off the red wax seal. Cautiously giving it a flick, she jumped when it blinked with a sort of light and began projecting what had to be a pre-recorded video.

All Might stood in his golden and pointed-hair glory, his signature smile on his face. Her eyes widened as the video played on, and as a scoreboard flashed over the screen, she made out her name almost immediately, shocking her into stunned silence.

.

 _4th Place:_

Minamoto Morie 

_Villain Points: 24 |_ _Rescue Points: 44_

Ibara Shiozaki

 _Villain Points: 36 |_ _Rescue Points: 32_

 _._

She was tied with somebody else, and her villain points were on the low end of the scale, but she had earned a decent number of rescue points to make up for it... After all that happened at the Entrance Exam, it was hard to believe that she, of all people, made it into the top few. Surely there were other people who were stronger and better qualified to attain the fourth place?

(Nevertheless, it was like a goddamn _miracle._ )

Morie turned off the video, All Might's proclamation of welcome fresh on her mind. Lightly, she slapped herself on the cheeks to ascertain that she was not in fact just dreaming. Then she blinked, exhaled her relief, and smiled.

 _Bzzt!_

She eyed her vibrating phone. Reaching out to grab it, she smiled at the name which popped up in her notifications.

 _One unread message from BAEREN._

(In case you were wondering, no, she definitely was _not_ responsible for the cringe-worthy name that her friend had saved herself as in her phone.)

.

BAEREN: omgomg i made it in

rie: Shiketsu? That's good news.

BAEREN: ya

BAEREN: thanks ;;

rie: Good luck dealing with my cousin, he's a handful.

BAEREN: lmao he can't be that bad?

rie: Shh, you'll know when you see him.

BAEREN: lololol

BAEREN: did you get into yuuei, btw?

rie: Yeah.

BAEREN: lololol so proud, my lil baby has grown up! ;;

.

At this point, Morie looked up from her phone to roll her eyes, even as the corners of her lips curled upwards. Then her eyebrows furrowed as she took in the sound of loud shouts (whether it was triumph or celebration, she would never know) coming from next door.

 _Oh yeah, so that Bakugou guy made it in, too. Didn't he get first place?_ Shrugging, she shook her head before turning her attention back to her phone and resuming her texting.

.

(The next morning, Morie didn't have to say a word, what with her unusual good mood doing the speaking for her. No words of congratulations were exchanged, but she could tell that her parents were pleased with the results just from the sheer amount of scrambled eggs stacked up on her plate for breakfast, along with the enthusiastic way her mother ruffled her hair right before she left for work.)

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm not exactly a fan of the whole 'OC joins cast with no other real-life friends' trope, so enter Ren! Sorry about the textspeak but this is sort of my way of presenting Morie as a teenager, just like the rest of the BNHA cast, I guess? Sometimes she is ridiculously lucky, and other times she isn't.**

 **Here is where I insert another disclaimer: I am not a science student, nor do I take physics, hence it is likely that descriptions of Morie's quirk will be inaccurate in a real-world context. What I can say though, is that the general idea of her quirk resembles Momo's, in the sense where they need to have scientific awareness in order to use their quirk. With that said, there is actually a reason why Morie got fewer rescue points than Uraraka even though they both stopped people from falling, but that will hopefully be touched on later.**

 **So for an announcement, I'm planning to create a side-series of sorts for Selling Daylight, which will feature background information on Rie (in story form), different perspectives, different AU one-shots, random** **scenes which I never managed to fit in the main story and the like. Hence, my question for you would be: how interested would you be in reading this side-series?**

 **With that said, the short excerpt below is actually me thanking you for a hundred follows- which I honestly didn't expect. Your support means a lot. Thank you.**

 **.**

* * *

( **for comic relief, aka shits and giggles you probably will not get.)**

* * *

"Dang, these gummies are hella good," Kirishima stated abruptly, looking thoughtful for a moment. The good-meaning of the statement,however, caused a mild look of chagrin to flash over her features.

 _._

"Minamoto Morie, at your service." A grin appeared on her lips, filled with mirth from her own silliness. "Add me on Instagram and DM me for commissions," she stated pseudo-seriously, eliciting a snort from the red-haired boy.

.

 _Fuck this shit._

"As much as I relate, you are going to be a hero and that requires plot elements," her father stated, shaking his head.

.

His daughter had always had a bad case of nerves, and a startling low amount self-confidence (maybe he was exaggerating, but that was the impression he got from her awkward behaviour and general jitteriness). When he had confided in his wife, however, she had been fairly unperturbed by the revelation, and instead looked like she knew all along.

("You have to understand," had been her only comment back then. "It's a phase, Chika.")

.

 _Bzzt!_

BAEREN: omgomg i made it in

rie: Shiketsu? That's good news

BAEREN: ya

BAEREN: thanks ;;

rie: Good luck dealing with my cousin, he's a handful

BAEREN: lmao he can't be that bad?

rie: hush, you'll know when you see him

BAEREN: lololol

BAEREN: did you get into yuuei, btw?

rie: Yeah.

BAEREN: lololol so proud, my lil baby has grown up! ;;

.

Morie sighed heavily, shaking her head as she read through the conversation.

 _I knew I should have never introduced her to Mystic Messenger._

 _._

 _._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: School Days

* * *

The first time you did things were always the most nerve-wrecking.

Morie didn't dispute that, especially as she set foot in her new class on the first day, even with the knowledge that her classroom was more likely than not going to be empty. More often than not, she ended up leaving her house too early out of paranoia that somehow she would miss the train and this habit had been stuck with her for ages. Who else showed up almost thirty minutes early?

When she opened the door, to say she was surprised was an understatement. There were already two people in class, which she was not used to because people had certainly _not_ been so enthusiastic towards school back at Sakurazawa. She made out a girl with jet black hair sat at the very last row of the classroom, looking extremely prim and proper, for the lack of a better description. On the other hand, the other figure sat a few seats in front, but it was unmistakably Bakugou Katsuki, sitting in all his irritable glory.

"Good morning," she greeted softly, if only for the sake of being polite- she was more inwardly surprised to spot her neighbour in school so early in the morning.

"Good morning," The black-haired girl responded good-naturedly, sending her a small smile that she returned. Predictably, Bakugou showed no sign that he had heard her greeting- though to be honest, she had not expected much from him.

Feeling too awkward to make further conversation, she settled for sitting down at the side of the classroom nearer to the door, before she pulled out her notebook and was soon immersed in sketching out her idea for the newest commission she had just received. Before she knew it, twenty minutes had passed by and majority of the class were now making their way inside the classroom.

Bowing her head, she avoided eye contact as much as possible, instead focusing on adding finer details to her sketch.

"Woah, you draw, Minamoto?" A voice suddenly rang out directly in front of her. Eyes widening in surprise, she glanced up only to see familiar boy with spiky crimson hair and bright eyes.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise.

"Yeah," she replied, setting down her pencil. "Nice seeing you again, Kirishima."

Kirishima looked absolutely pumped up even though school had yet to begin. "I'm glad we're in the same class," he stated, "All of this is pretty nerve-wrecking, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you're right about that." She admitted. "I feel like today will be pretty interesting, but I don't know what to feel about all this."

"Seems unreal, right?" He said, pulling out the chair to the desk next to hers and sitting down in it. "I can't wait..."

Admittedly, his limitless enthusiasm was adorable. An exaggerated groaning noise escaped his throat and Morie patted him on the back, smiling bemusedly.

"It's ten minutes more, you can do it."

The door slid open at that point, and she recognised the bespectacled boy from the entrance exam briefing. Instinctively, she glanced down at her table to avoid meeting his eyes as they swept over the entirety of the class. However, they stopped on her, widening in recognition and she inwardly cursed her bad luck. Normally, people failed to recognise her due to her lack of a presence. Why was today an exception?

"Good morning! You were the one who spoke up during the briefing, were you not?" He walked up to her, eyes seeming to bore into her, and she resisted the urge to shrink back. His voice was unnecessarily loud, and she did not appreciate the stares that he was garnering.

She didn't reply but instead nodded slowly, meaningfully catching his eye as she hoped to get him to tone down. He didn't seem to understand, however, as he simply spoke once more, his voice equally or if not more booming.

"I apologise for my actions! You see, I realised that I have gravely misjudged that boy. Please forgive me for being an inconvenience!"

She blinked at that. _Well, that escalated quickly._

Nodding in acceptance of his (much unneeded) apology, she raised an eyebrow as he bowed stifflu, and she could've sworn that he bent a perfect ninety degrees.

 _At least he didn't stick his head in the floor._

"My name is Iida Tenya! May I make your acquaintance?"

It was the first time people walked up to her and asked to be friends, or in this case acquaintances, as he so formally put it. Morie decided to just go along with it.

"I'm Minamoto Morie, and I don't mind," she said, sending him a smile. Iida straightened up and smiled- that is, until he caught sight of Bakugou in his chosen seat, lounging in his chair with his legs propped up on the table.

"You over there!" He cried out, before proceeding to march over. "Don't put your feet on the desk! Don't you think that is disrespectful to your upperclassman and the people who made this table?!"

 _He's fond of his hand gestures,_ she noted randomly, allowing her eyes to flit over in mild interest. _I do see where he's coming from, though I've never seen someone so passionate and sentimental about tables._

Red eyes snapped open slowly as the spiky-haired boy leered at Iida, baring his teeth as his lips curled up into look of condescension. Bakugou drawled, his eyes studying the bespectacled boy before him and remaining visibly unimpressed.

"No. Which junior high did you go to, you side character?" He was practically sneering at the taller boy now, and Morie ducked away to reimmerse herself in her sketchbook.

 _Side character? It's like he thinks this is a bloody anime!_ She thought in amusement, almost incredulous at the realisation that she had underestimated the extent of his generally unpleasant personality.

"Somei?" She could hear the boy with ash blonde-hair roar. "So you're a damn elite, huh? Looks like I'll have fun _crushing_ you."

 _Violent tendencies, check._

Morie deadpanned, taking great care not to mutter anything out loud which may accidentally incur Bakugou's wrath. She was lucky enough that he never hounded her about their first encounter in the classroom- it was best if she just stayed out of his way. Mr Spiky Hair was fucking terrifying, and if horror movies were any indication, people did the most stupid things were afraid- she was as guilty as charged.

In her desire for class to just start already so that there could be an end to all this drama ( _it was way too early for this shit_ ), she found herself staring at the door, a smile flashing across her face as she recognised the curly-haired boy who stood there, looking like his soul had just escaped at the sight of the two bickering boys.

(Yes, how she related to that, because school and intimidating classmates did not mesh well together at all.)

"Good morning, Midoriya," Morie called out, raising a hand to wave at him, if only to get him to come inside. She froze as she realised that she unwittingly just directed the whole class' attention at him, and the two that in conflict at the back of class were no exception.

It took her all her willpower to not slam her head down on the table in her embarrassment as she profusely apologised mentally to Midoriya for putting him in this so-very-awkward situation.

Iida gasped in recognition.

"You are..."

Promptly, he marched over stiffly, arms swinging about robotically. "Good morning! I am from Somei Academy, my name is- "

"I heard!" Midoriya cut him off. It was probably not on purpose though, as he quickly realised his mistake and sheepishly glanced at Iida. "Ah, um, I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Iida-kun."

"Ah, that curly hair! You're the plain-looking one!" A third person showed up to join the ongoing exchange at the doorstep. Morie took in the sight of her bright smile and pink cheeks and her heart melted on the spot.

 _I swear, half of the people here are too good for this world._ She sighed, burying herself in her sketches to hide her further embarrassment of getting (accidentally) ignored by Midoriya.

"Hey, look at that!" Kirishima whispered excitedly, nudging her to get her attention. She glanced at where he was staring, only to see a man with shaggy hair and loose cloth bandages hanging around his neck wriggle out of a dusty-looking sleeping bag. It almost made him look like a yellow caterpillar, but even so there was a nagging feeling that she should know who this guy was- probably just her nerdy Hero instincts screaming at her.

Their new (or would worn-out be a better word?) homeroom teacher reached inside his yellow sleeping bag and tugged out an equally worn-out set of sports attire, and all she could think of upon hearing his bored, monotonous voice was 'this guy needs a dose of strong coffee as soon as possible'. He honestly looked like he could fall asleep while standing up, and as somebody who was occasionally guilty of finding the act of mere standing to be a chore, she related with him greatly.

"Put this on and meet me outside. Be quick with it."

He disappeared out of the class before an enthusiastic reply could be garnered, leaving most of the students of Class 1-A standing with their mouths agape.

Physical assessment? They were seriously having a test on the first day of school? Of course they did, this was bloody Yuuei Academy- they prided themselves in their freedom, after all, and apparently that meant tests on the first day.

Morie sighed, and leaned over towards Kirishima, exchanging knowing glances with him.

"Called it," she whispered resignedly. He grinned appreciatively upon hearing that, and was already shuffling around in his bag for their required uniform. Moved by his optimism, she stepped out of class and followed them out onto the field, taking in deep breaths to remain calm.

After all, what's the worst that could happen?

* * *

.

She fucking _jinxed_ it.

Has she ever mentioned how much she utterly loathed physical activity? The day after the entrance exam, her muscles burned so badly she could barely drag herself up from her wonderful bed.

(It also brought back rather traumatising memories of being trained by her father in what she dubbed his sadistic mode, but she preferred not to bring that up- much less remember it.)

Not only that, this particular physical test came with the threat of expulsion. Certainly, it was cruel to do that students who have probably spent the past year or so trying to work their way into Yuuei, but at last, the school will do what it has to do. It was with a heavy heart did she force herself to get into the exercise, not ceasing her internal screaming at the brunt her muscles received.

(Somehow, Morie managed to scrape by with a position of fifteenth place out of twenty, a 'feat' that raised eyebrows as she was supposedly the one who got fourth place in the entrance exam. Gosh, expectations could do wonders for you, but yet it was infuriating to be the target of them.)

Alas, in the end it turned out that the whole lot of them were tricked by Aizawa-sensei, who stated with a shit-faced grin that it was all a 'logical ruse'.

 _Logical ruse my ass_ , Morie thought, scowling. It was fairly obvious when someone meant what they say and when they did not. Aizawa had certainly been planning to expel a student- or maybe even more than a student. Something just changed his mind, and now he was saying that he did it to push them in a corner, bring out their best, yada yada.

(Or so he claimed- with that said, she wasn't sure how the outcome would be if the person in last place hadn't been Midoriya. There was no way the curly-haired boy would have been expelled, not when his pitch had been so amazing. Not when their unimpressive looking teacher, Eraserhead, had been utterly impressed.)

Afterwards, normal lessons were almost welcome after the nightmare that was the physical activity tests. She was pleasantly surprised (more like it took all of her self-control not to cry and ask for an autograph) to see pro-heroes teaching normal subjects- hey, at least now she had a good reason to _not_ piss them off!

A familiar sense of relief washed through her as the end of school arrived. Quickly, she bowed her head and proceeded to stuff her belongings into her bag, her mind swimming with plans for the day. This was in itself a miracle for her, considering that motivation to her was like some next-door neighbour- disappearing and popping by in your life at random. In her hands were her phone and her earphones, just waiting to be untangled as she fiddled around with them a bit- the devices one simply cannot do without if they were the unsociable type of commuters on public transportation.

 _If I make it home earlier, I can start studying AND make some time for that new commission, though I'm not sure how much I'll be able to work on it-_

"Hey, Minamoto! Want to come to the station with us?"

Kirishima called out from the middle of the classroom, sending her a grin as he excitably waved her over. Her dark eyes widened in surprise as she took in the sight of him standing in front of a group of classmates, all of whom looked at her curiously. Immediately, she felt somewhat intimidated at the feeling of being scrutinised by near-strangers.

(Somehow, the thought of Kirishima being able to make friends easily made sense. He was warm, enthusiastic, and easy to get along with- certainly the kind of person people tended to gravitate towards.)

"Ah, I don't mind." She called back, stowing her earphones in her pocket hastily as she approached the group, albeit somewhat hesitantly. "Y'know, you can call me Rie if you want to. It's sorta weird being called by my last name."

"Rie-san, then," he amended, beaming.

Morie was quickly introduced to his new friends: Kaminari Denki, who had an interesting lightning-shaped mark in his yellow-blonde hair, and Hanta Sero, who had black hair and looked extremely familiar, though she had no idea why. Maybe it was his plain features, or his chipped smile- she just couldn't place why he seemed so familiar.

"Green Day?" Kaminari commented, peering over to scroll through her playlist. "Geez, you're like Jirou then."

Sero peered over to her phone, where she had drew up her own phone cover. It was simply her experimental watercolour galaxy painting from the other day that she ended up really liking, so she cut it into the shape of a phone cover and plastered it in between a transparent sheet and her phone. Not only did it look nice, it saved a lot of money.

(Heh.)

"My cousin draws too," Sero stated, tapping his arm thoughtfully. Morie perked up at the statement, immediately questioning him about the illustrations his cousin did. Kirishima spent most of the time fawning over her phone cover, which honestly embarrassed her a little, which led her to promise to do a similar painting for him- honestly, she hardly gave away things for free, but as she watched the red-haired boy's eyes light up at the promise, she thought that maybe she didn't mind Kirishima being an exception.

Going home with other people and socialising rather than listening to music by herself was a surprisingly welcome change. Morie got along well with Kaminari and Sero, and she assumed that this was due to their friendly and more laid-back personalities. Talking to new people was less tiring and stressful than she had expected, and even as they got off at stations before her, she felt oddly relaxed as she stepped off the train.

She immediately made to walk out of the station- that is, until she caught sight of ash-blonde hair a little ways before her.

The resident class delinquent was walking on his own, with his earphones donned and his hands stuck in the pockets of his pants. He trudged along at a steady, nonchalant pace, eyes staring forward as he made his way back home. One thing she noticed, however, after trying to figure out what was wrong with his uniform, was that the way he wore his pants were extremely weird. Softly giggling at the sight of his creased and saggy pants that were hanging _way_ below his waistline, Morie turned away, her hand slapping over her mouth.

 _There is a very thin line between being a delinquent and not knowing how to buckle up your pants,_ she smiled dryly.

Loitering behind a little, she deliberately stalled as she dug out her earphones and untangled them, only walking off towards her house when they were securely plugged into her ears. With any luck, he would already be inside his house when she got to the street, and an awkward (cough terrifying) crisis could be avoided.

Blond hair disappeared into his house just as she turned the street corner, and unashamedly, Morie pumped a fist at this small success. She barely stepped into the compound and closed the gate when her phone vibrated, and her mouth fell open as she read through her messages.

"What the hell, Ren?!" Morie gaped to herself as she stared at her recent messages from Ren, feeling absolutely aghast at the new development before her.

.

 _BAEREN : omgomg_

 _BAEREN : rie_

 _BAEREN : your cousin is really cute_

 _BAEREN : i'm serious don't kill me please ;;_

 _._

Shaking her head in disbelief, she immediately typed out her reply, resisting the urge to gag as she did so.

.

 _rie : They all seem cute at first._

 _rie : I thought he was precious too._

 _rie : I warned you._

 _._

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, Bakugou Katsuki stood outside his door, hands stretched out towards his doorknob with his housekeys in hand. Scowling at the noise emanating from the house next-door, he vaguely wondered what was going on, before recalling that he had an irritating and nameless person as his neighbour.

Anyway, who the hell was this 'Ren'?!

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Don't mind me just dying from guilt of removing Hagakure from Class A for the even numbers-**

 **(What do you think of this chapter? Any predictions?)**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Dropping Bombs

* * *

When the time came to receive their hero costumes, to say that Morie was excited was an understatement.

Weeks ago, when the time had come to submit their costume design along with their application to U.A, her costume design had been what she was the most enthusiastic about.

Yes, her priorities had been perfectly in place. Her mother still saw reason to chide her right up to this day.

(No regrets.)

Complete with watercolors, she vaguely remembered nitpicking over the smallest of details, such as how her helmet in her costume and how the devices she had incorporated into her design had to stimulate specific pressure points, how there had to be a hole in each finger of her glove and holes in the soles of her combat boots, or even how her vest had to be able to be buckled at the front (not even including how she had requested for the said vests to have hidden compartments for first aid supplies and emergency medicine).

If that wasn't enough, Morie even specified the type of material she wanted her costume to be made of. In other words, her costume design either made the lives of those in charge of the creation process extremely easy or it gave them utmost _hell._

With the amount of details that she had put into the design, she had doubted that they would be able to adhere to most of her requests, but much to her surprise, not only did they meet all her demands, they even made it better. Sometimes, the capabilities of technology just blew her mind.

The practicality of her former costume had made her decide to sacrifice on its aesthetic appeal, resulting in a boring design, bluntly put. However, the company had taken their own spin on her design: the pressure-point stimulating devices that were to be placed on her neck, arms, and legs respectively took the form of classy black bands, and they had improved her design for her boots by incorporating a sort of permeable and water-proof material where the holes she had requested for were located.

The quality of her costume had come out well, too- her colour scheme which mainly included black, shades of sapphire and pale blue- looked shiny and vivid when it had looked dull in her design, and the functionality of her costume had been maximised to its very peak. Hell, they even included an expandable first-aid kit, small tools and tablets of medicine in her hidden vest compartments!

Buckling the front of her vest and pulling the visor of her helmet over her eyes, she experimented with her usual manipulation of pressure while wearing her new gloves, intently scrutinising the cool marbles which hovered around her fingertips. Making the air pressure to increase at a point, she watched as the marbles in her hands spun accordingly, seemingly unaffected by her new gloves in the least. Beaming, she let the marbles fall down into the palm of her hand before she stepped out into the training grounds, utterly impressed by the way her costume had turned out.

The overall colour scheme hadn't clashed with the colour of her long dark hair like she thought it would, and as she secured her long hair in a ponytail, it gave her a (deceptively) elegant visage.

"Woah, looking good, Rie-san!" A voice exclaimed.

Turning around, Morie pulled up her visor and grinned.

"Thanks." She stated, flushing slightly at the compliment, before cheekily flashing a peace sign at her red-haired classmate. "You look good too- your costume has got to be the epitome of manliness!"

And Morie was _not_ exaggerating- Kirishima was practically shirtless in his costume, and one could not argue that he certainly looked the part of a hero, what with his bright eyes and inspiring grin. However, she could barely bring herself to look at him for more than two seconds from her own feelings of embarrassment and disgust towards herself.

(Briefly wondering if she was a pervert for noticing that Kirishima was bloody ripped _,_ she blandly corrected herself that no, she just had eyes.)

Well, at least she had not been reduced to a blushing mess.

Curiosity bubbled within her, and as Morie looked around, she couldn't help but notice that Kirishima was not the only one who looked good in his new costume. In fact, all of the Class 1-A members had costumes which brought out their respective charms. Now, she wasn't one for self-praise, but the costumes made them look fucking _badass_ , for the lack of a better word.

She hated to admit it, but as a tiny observation, even Bakugou Katsuki of all people looked more striking than usual in his costume. While every else's costume made them look fittingly approachable as a hero, Bakugou's costume, with its sharp shades of black, orange and forest green, made him look intimidating. Powerful, even. It brought out a unique flair that was further showed off by the overall intimidating look he went for, coupled with his wide, confident grin.

Morie realised that she had been staring at him throughout All Might's speech, immersed within her own train of thoughts, and hastily she turned away before she could be accused of staring at the short-fused boy. Turning back to All Might, she took in his wide grin and listened silently to make up for her lapse of attention. Once the random groupings for that day's exercise was determined, the Number One Hero spread his arms and fixed upon them that wide, awe-inspiring grin.

"PLUS ULTRA! Let the training now commence!"

(For a moment, it felt utterly surreal that they were actually Heroes-in-training, and as the excitement rose contagiously, a smile curled up on her lips.)

* * *

.

"So."

"So," Mashirao furrowed his eyes. His tail flicked about him pensively as he waited for her to speak.

"We're up against Todoroki and Shouji. Todoroki seems to have a sort of ice-manipulation quirk and Shouji can switch out those arms of his for body parts? At least from what I noticed from their performance in the physical tests yesterday." Morie noted, rambling off on her thoughts. "To form a plan, we're going to have to know the strengths and limits for both of our quirks. I'll go first," she added quickly at Mashirao's mildly uncomfortable expression.

"I don't know if my quirk is easily recognisable, but it's called Pressure. I can sense atoms and molecules for up to five metres, and change the pressure of whatever I sense. To a limited extent, this lets me create wind and manipulate air somewhat." She explained, awkwardly trailing off because she really had no idea what else to say.

"I can use my tail as an extension of myself and I specialise in close combat," Mashirao stated helpfully when it was his turn to talk. She considered that, nodding as she thought about their options.

"Firstly, we don't know how powerful that guy's ice abilities are. For all we know, he could just freeze the entire building." Chuckling at that ridiculous idea, (no way that could happen, right?) she continued on. "We shouldn't split up so far- maybe one of us can stand in the corridor outside this room and the other can stay here to guard the missile."

"You can stay here, then." Mashirao suggested. "You can keep them away with your pressure, right?"

Morie hummed in thought.

"Yup, sounds good," she stated, quickly adding an afterthought, "If it seems like they're going to trap you at all, run back here and we can hold them off together, no?"

"Sounds like a plan." He agreed, and the new partners exchanged glances. Their mutual desire to win came in the form of a wordless agreement, something which made her smile.

She chuckled at that. "Let's win this, Mashirao."

"Yeah," a small smile appeared his features just for a moment as he got up and began to head out. "Let's do our best."

.

Morie was crouched alone in the room, her hand pressed to the concrete. Her eyes widened as she detected major pressure changes- air pressure on the walls of the building were increasing at an alarming rate, but yet the vibrations in the walls were decreasing...

 _It couldn't be-_

"Mashirao, come back! He's freezing the entire building!" She cried out into her communication device, a slight panic taking over her.

In a patter of footsteps, Mashirao reappeared at the door. "What should we do now?"

Morie breathed in heavily, considering their options.

The pressure was still steadily increasing, meaning that Todoroki was drawing nearer and nearer. The air was buzzing now from the high pressure, and her eyes widened. Then she connected the dots, and something clicked in her mind as she flexed her fingers slowly.

"Okay," she stated once the last piece of her haphazardly put-together plan cluttered into place. "Hey, don't worry, he just gave as an advantage. I think. Here's an idea..."

.

Todoroki Shouto walked on calmly, his footsteps echoing against the frozen floors. The entirety of the building, inside and out, was encased in a deadly yet beautiful blue.

Just that morning, he had gotten into a mild disagreement with his father. It was nothing major, but it was enough to put him in a foul mood for the rest of the morning. As a result, he was more than determined to turn out victorious in this Battle Trial without a hitch, to prove his shitty old man _wrong._

For one thing, he was absolutely certain that both of his opponents were frozen and unable to move. From what Shouji had told him, one of them had been with the device while the other had been outside in the building somewhere, probably on guard or planning to ambush them.

As the dual-haired boy entered the room with the nuclear device, his suspicions were confirmed as he spotted Mashirao Ojiro frozen and unable to move metres away from the device. For some reason, however, the ground he stepped on was mostly devoid of ice- and entire area in front of the entrance of the room only had specks of ice on it. He didn't think much of it, however- the missile was safely frozen over, and that was the only thing that mattered in the end.

His target was right before him, and as Todoroki stepped past Mashirao, he addressed him, feeling just a bit of pity for the other boy for his helplessness.

"Don't try to break out of the ice. Your skin will come right off, and you wouldn't be able to fight well." He stated curtly.

All he got in reply was a narrow-eyed stare, and in the silence, Todoroki turned away and continued to walk forward, footsteps echoing against the concrete, only stopping when he was directly in front of the missile. Raising a hand, he made to touch the nuclear device, only to realise that for some obscure reason, he could not.

A strange, invisible force pushed against his fingertips as he tried to touch the device. It repelled against his touch persistently and his eyes narrowed. He thought of Mashirao's unusually calm demeanour and the unfrozen floor across the room.

This setup... it could only be -

 _\- a trap._

His realisation came too late, however, as the force around the the nuclear device increased with a manic intensity, and he was suddenly blasted off his feet away from the device.

"Mashirao!" A voice cried out, and his eyes widened by a fraction as Mashirao was suddenly before him, looking perfectly fine as he aimed a flurry of kicks and punches at him, forcing him further away from the device. Todoroki dodged the white and swirling capture tape he held in his hands and slid backwards out of the way. Raising a hand, he made to use his quirk immediately, fully intending to freeze Mashirao where he stood.

His hand halted, however, when a voice spoke up, evidently directed at him.

"I've put up a barrier of high pressure around you, so I don't recommend you do that, Todoroki." The source of the voice was made clear as a figure stepped out from behind the nuclear device. He immediately recognised her as Mashirao's partner-which surprised him, because according to Shouji, they had apparently split up. "Assuming you don't want to get shredded, of course."

Indeed, Todoroki was acutely aware of the force which now surrounded him as the dark-haired girl commented off-handedly. As he shifted on the spot, his eyes darted around the invisible barrier, as if searching for a way out.

Minamoto had pulled up her visor. The girl in question had dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail, giving her a proper and calm appearance as her dark eyes scrutinised him detachedly. As she briefly met his eyes, he realised that there was something about her which rubbed him the wrong way- or maybe it was just the faint sense of familiarity that was bothering him. The mystery was solved as he examined her eyes- dark, almond-shaped, and almost calculating.

She shifted slightly in her stance, and the revelation hit him that she was waiting to see what he would do, anticipating his response to her threat. In return, Todoroki narrowed his eyes and called her bluff.

Willing ice to burst out from his hand, brilliant ice spheres now erupted through the room, effectively breaking through the barrier that had been swirling into place around him. There was a sort of satisfaction in noticing the slight break in the girl's composure as he stepped forward, free to take action as he saw fit.

"I was afraid you'd do that," Minamoto commented, frowning. Any traces of panic were now gone, and Todoroki narrowed his eyes.

If she was planning to unnerve him with how composed she was, it was not working.

"What do we do, Minamoto-san?" Mashirao called from the other side of the room.

"I don't know," Minamoto admitted, though she slipped on the visor on her helmet, and her eyes could not longer be seen. "Fight on your grounds, I guess."

Mashirao remained silent at that rather cryptic statement, though he quickly launched into action. Todoroki suddenly found a barrage of kicks and punches, and he pulled up his arms to shield from the blows. Jumping up, his view was momentarily blocked by the other boy as the recommended student backed away, reaching out a hand to send ice to engulf the boy before him. But with a flick of his tail, Mashirao propelled himself over Todoroki, and a gigantic wall of ice glimmered where the blond boy stood mere seconds ago.

There was suddenly a transmission from Shouji, which he picked up.

"Todoroki, I heard what was going on, but the door's blocked- I can't get through."

The dual-haired boy frowned at that. Hadn't the door been open earlier? What could have-

Todoroki froze at the sight of ice engulfing the wall as understanding dawned on him at once. He could make out the distinct outline of the doorway in the ice as distant splintering sounds could be heard- presumably Shouji trying to pry away at the door.

Once more, he had been tricked, and he was not the least bit happy about it. Ice suddenly engulfed the entire room from his touch as he ruthlessly let it spread everywhere, not even sparing an inch of wall or ground- after all, there was nothing they could do if they couldn't move, right?

Walking over to the missile, Todoroki raised his hand once more to touch the missile, only to frown as the pressure around the object persistently remained, much like a particularly annoying thorn that would not leave his side. Then, there was a ' _crack!_ ' as ice broke and erupted behind him, and he made out the outline of Minamoto staggering towards him, stubbornly refusing to admit defeat.

Her spirit was admirable, that was for certain. But right now, she was in the way of his victory.

Willing more ice to gather around his hand, he balled his hand into a fist and punched through the invisible barrier with renewed force, making contact with the nuclear missile at last.

However, even in face of victory, Todoroki was very much unfazed- he existed for the sole reason of defeating All Might, after all. Wasn't it the least he could do to ensure that he won each and every battle he faced?

.

* * *

"Ah," Morie sighed, shaking off the frost around her arms as she shivered. Todoroki's onslaught had been merciless, and she hadn't been able to put up a barrier of high pressure around herself in time.

"We lost. You alright, Mashirao?"

"Yeah," the boy in question responded, looking just a tad bit disappointed.

"Your feet didn't get frozen, did they?" She asked, remembering that she had formed a small barrier over his feet so that ice could freeze over him indirectly. "I was sorta worried that I wasn't covering you properly- my control isn't all there yet."

"Just a bit, on the sole of my right foot," Mashirao responded. "It feels fine though- don't worry about it."

"Ah," she sighed, looking guilty. "I have some bandages, if you want."

"Thank you. I appreciate your offer."

As Mashirao said that, Morie grew quiet as she contemplated why they lost- no, that was to be expected- after all, they had been up against two people with incredibly strong quirks. She couldn't help but feel responsible for the loss, however- if she had enforced the barrier around the missile more, raised the pressure by a bit, would Todoroki have been able to break through it all the same?

After all, his ice had given her a large advantage: the low temperature had resulted in high pressures throughout the building, which had in turn expanded her range by a vast extent. With that reason, she had been able to shut the door to the room with the opening Mashirao had given her, increasing pressure in the room so that the door would be forced to close (much like how the valves in the heart worked). The reason why he had been able to break through her shield of high air pressure around the missile was because of the additional ice on his hand, which was surrounded with greater pressure than that of the shield.

Was it possible that he had figured out her quirk? If so, she had certainly taken it for granted that no one would be able to figure it out easily.

 _I'm too used to people thinking I don't_ _have a quirk, in that case. It's giving me a false sense of security._

As they all made to get out of the building in silence, Morie caught sight of the dual-haired boy, before addressing him as she smiled lightly.

"That was a good match, Todoroki," she stated amiably. "Out of curiousity, what made you coat your hand with ice as you punched the barrier?"

The boy's expression was indifferent as he walked on, not even sparing her a glance.

"Instinct," he responded curtly, and she sweatdropped at that- so he was just being lucky? Seriously?

Morie muttered lowly at that.

"I see," she sighed in resignment. "Congratulations on the win."

"Thanks... but no thanks," the dual-haired boy stated, his tone sounding impossibly flat.

As his voice filled increasingly with condescension, his strangely-coloured eyes bored into hers, seemingly with distaste- though she had no idea what she had done to warrant his cold attitude towards her. "You're the daughter of Coriolis, the Wind Hero, aren't you? Holder of the Number Three rank and a rival to my old man, Endeavour."

 _What the hell? How-_

Stiffening, her eyes darted towards him. The fact that her mother was ranked among the top Five Pro Heroes was not widely known- like Aizawa, her mother had opted to stay away from the media as much as possible, though even with her efforts, her flashy Wind quirk still drew much attention to herself. Her appearances in media were rare, and her mother was much like an urban legend among Pro Heroes- only a few people knew of her mother's true identity, with speculation spreading like wildfire up to this very day.

(Morie had to be thankful, of course, that she was viewed as Rie, your average teenager, and not Coriolis' daughter. For a moment, she felt sorry for the boy before her, who had had unwanted spotlight on him the very moment he was born.)

He must have sensed her alarm, for his eyes emotionlessly flickered over to hers. She wondered if he gained a sort of sick satisfaction in provoking her and rubbing her loss in her face.

"It seems that the difference in abilities between our parents has also been extended to us," he stated callously, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Oh, was this guy pushing his fucking limits.

Currently, she inwardly seethed at the implications that he was making about her Mom- that Minamoto Fū, the strongest woman she knew, was lesser than Endeavour in any way- she had worked for her rank, for goodness' sake! Or that her mother was desperate to claim Endeavour's rank; or that Todoroki himself was better than her, just because he had been born with a ridiculously powerful quirk while her own quirk gave her guaranteed headaches from simply trying to use it.

(" _Be the better person bethe betterpersonbethebetterpersonbe-_ ")

"Your father is the one who makes everything a competition out of everything, Todoroki," Morie replied evenly, forcing herself to calm down as ugly and foreign hostility brimmed within her. But somehow, she managed to stay calm as she continued on. "My mom is fucking _amazing_ , and I am aware that I can't live up to her. I know that. But the difference in our abilities stays between us- so please leave my mom and your father out of this."

That wasn't so bad- she said 'please', after all. She was not getting more polite with him than that.

The silence between them was tense, and in that instant, there was nothing she would have liked to do better than to just walk away; preferably like a badass walking away from the explosion scene.

That didn't happen, though.

Eyes meeting hers coldly, Todoroki Shouto was the one turned and walked away, leaving her in the lurch, and she stared after him, her fingers still tingling in silent fury. But then confusion made itself evident in her wide, panicked eyes, and shakily, she wrung her hands together with a sigh.

 _How?_

 _How had he figured it out?_

* * *

.

Earphones on, Morie, now significantly calmer, was finalising the details of her commission. Occasionally, she referred to her list of colours that she had on hand, but otherwise she was frowning in deep concentration.

Drawing always proved to be a great distraction when she was feeling particularly troubled. In spite of that, she was having more difficulty today- her strokes were uneven, and her hand was more shaky than usual; the results more often than not unsatisfactory.

(She blamed this on that certain asshole with heterochromatic eyes and dual hair colours.)

Her calm exterior failed to hide the fact that her usual patience had diminished, resulting in her scribbles being more furious than usual.

"Excuse me, you are Minamoto-san, right?"

She looked up to see a girl with long black hair tied up with in a ponytail, the same girl who she had seen in the morning. Her irritation faded somewhat as it replaced itself with curiosity.

Politely, Morie pulled out her earphones and hastily covered up her work. Then her eyebrows furrowed and examined the girl more closely.

Wasn't this the girl who had faithfully answered All Might's questions and dished out constructive criticism during their training?

Or rather, what the hell was a recommended student talking to somebody like her for? Morie hadn't bothered to talk with anyone outside her friend group (other than Todoroki who roasted her for being the least bit sportsmanlike), and she doubted that her customary poker-face in class was very welcoming.

"Y-yeah. You would be Yaoyorozu Momo-san, right?" She responded, feeling intimidated by the said girl's air of cool confidence.

"That would be correct," the girl replied, and much to Morie's relief a small smile appeared on the other girl's features. "Forgive me for the intrusion, but I was curious as to what your quirk is. Would it be some sort of air manipulation quirk, by any chance?"

 _Ah, she must be curious about the battle trial I had with Mashirao against the asshole and Shouji._

Morie sought out the words she always used when explaining her quirk. "Sort of. I can manipulate pressure, so to an extent I can manipulate the movement of air as well."

A new sort of understanding flashed across Momo's eyes at that, as if a theory she had been harbouring had just been confirmed. But then the girl's eyes widened, and her face cocked to the side slowly as if she was deep in contemplation.

"You must have a powerful quirk, Morie-san," the girl commented. "You were able to manipulate the pressure in the whole building, weren't you? I am deeply surprised that you are not a recommended student."

Her cheeks flushed pink and she straightened up, clearly _not_ expecting to receive such a high level of praise.

Well, there was no better time than now to clear up the misconceptions about her quirk. She grudgingly admitted that Pressure was handy, and strong in some ways, but it was certainly not in the same league as Todoroki, Bakugou, her cousin, or even Momo herself.

Sometimes, an irrational feeling of shame would flood over her at the thought that she was supposed to be the daughter of the Number Three Ranked Hero, despite the fact that neither of her parents cared that she wasn't exceptionally talented or strong. _'It's stupid that you feel this way_ ,' as she often told herself.

(But she still did. She couldn't help it, and she hated it.)

At that, Morie let out a sigh.

"Truth to be told, Yaoyorozu-san, the reason I could control the pressure in the whole building was only because Todoroki froze the entire building- creating high pressure throughout the enclosed building that made the atoms in the air more easy to detect. It was pure luck on my part that he did not know what my quirk was, or else he wouldn't have done that. Furthermore, he had been separated from Shouji, but still Mashirao and I were barely able to capture him without resorting to tricks- though he still broke out regardless. But I digressed," she stated apologetically, and abruptly she recalled Momo's own critique of her battle and flushed in embarrassment at the memory.

"... I see. That certainly makes sense," Yaoyorozu stated, before she stood up and bowed. "Thank you for entertaining my queries, Minamoto-san."

"Ah, no need to be so formal, Yaoyorozu-san," she stated, feeling flustered at how utterly proper the girl was. Out of habit, she nearly blurted out _'Call me Rie!_ ', but she quickly stopped herself- Yaoyorozu may not be comfortable with that, even if she herself was. "And you're welcome."

The other girl's eyes softened, and she straightened up from her chair and got up to leave.

As she walked away, Morie was left brimming with silent admiration. Yaoyorozu's analysis of the battle trials, notably the first match, which had featured a match between Midoriya and Bakugou (or as Uraraka elegantly put it, ' _the fated battle between men!_ '), clearly displayed her intelligence and insight. It came as no surprise that someone like her was one of the four recommended students to Yuuei.

It was then did the memory of her recent, shameful loss to Todoroki Shouto, of all people, made something heavy settle within her, and she found her anger spiking every time she so much as caught a glimpse of his face out of the corner of her eye.

(" _Breathe in, breathe out. Count to ten. That's right, don't deck the little shit in his goddamned face._ ")

At times like this, having self-control did pay off after all.

Silently reviewing the battles that day, the first match flickered to mind; Morie's eyes darted over to Midoriya's empty seat, and subsequently the rampant blonde himself. He sat in his own corner, quiet and brooding as no one so much as attempted to converse with him for fear of being on the receiving end of his explosive temper.

Back then, at the surveillance room, all they could see were the both of them fighting it out. If there had been sound in the video footage, there was no doubt that they would have heard a lot of screaming, along with a lot of swearing and explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.

One did not simply forget the way Bakugou Katsuki blew off the side of a building.

Wincing at that, she suddenly found herself looking back to the first time the met- or rather, the time she had came across his name in Midoriya's Hero notebook, and how she hadn't recognised it back then. Now that she thought of how complicated the history between to do had to be, she thought that maybe, just maybe, this loss would be of some good to the blonde-haired boy, and make him face reality before it was too late.

She quickly turned back to her sketchbook and put her earphones back on- the whole Bakugou/Midoriya feud going on was frankly none of her business, and honestly all she could and should do was wait for the two to settle their differences.

"You're going home already, Bakugou-kun?" Uraraka's voice was loud over the guitar riff that was playing in her ear.

"Eh? But Midoriya hasn't come back yet!" That was Kirishima, who sounded pretty incredulous. At this point, Morie pulled off her earphones and glanced at the ongoing scene- an action mirrored by many of the others in class.

At the interruption, Bakugou stopped in his steps. His hands were tucked in his pockets, as he stared down his classmates from the corners of his crimson eyes.

"Out of my fucking way- I'm going home."

The spiky-haired boy threatened, before pushing open the door and stalking off without another word.

He was out of sight within moments.

"Seriously, that guy!" Kirishima looked positively befuddled as he walked over to her. "Can you believe him, Rie-san? First the unmanly way he fought Midoriya, and now he just left like that!"

So Bakugou had the ability to make Kirishima of all people disgruntled, even if only a little. That was impressive, though understandable- they were practically polar opposites after all.

"Calm down, Kirishima." She petted him on the shoulder, before staring out the open class door. "He and Midoriya have some messed up history, so it's better for us to not jump to conclusions about him."

(' _Still, he's a lot more pleasant than Todoroki right now_ ,' she mentally grumbled.)

"Now that you put it that way," Kirishima stated slowly. "I guess that was sorta harsh of me, wasn't it? Still sucks that he did that, though."

"Yeah," she smiled, glancing up as the door swung open again, only to see a curly-haired boy to be standing where the door once was. "Oh, Midoriya's back."

Kirishima let out a small 'yeah, it _is_ him!' before he excitably joined the welcome party situated at the door. The meek boy looked pleasantly surprised (and somewhat overwhelmed) by the warm welcome he go, and in turn, Morie stowed her supplies back into her bag and made her way over to the door as well.

(... she could have sworn that there weren't so many people at the doorstep thirty seconds ago.)

"Hello, Midoriya. Feeling better?" She asked, smiling at the curly-haired boy. He certainly did look better, other than the thick bandages his hands were subjected to. A stab of sympathy shot through her- of course someone like Midoriya, of all people, had to be subject to such terrible drawbacks from his quirk.

"Recovery Girl did a number on me and I feel a lot better now," the green-haired boy stated with a quivery smile. "Thank you for the concern, Rie-san!"

Morie waved it off, simply glad that the sweet boy was alright.

"Ah, Deku-kun's out!" Uraraka cheered as she entered the class once more, a stack of books in her hands, unintentionally ignoring Kaminari (and his shameless advances) as she rushed towards him, eyes shining.

Midoriya sent her a small smile, green eyes looking around the class almost worriedly.

"Where's Kacchan?" He questioned, a tiny frown appearing on his features.

"We tried to stop him from leaving," Uraraka responded sadly. Upon hearing that, the boy's eyes widened at that as he immediately excused himself and dashed off- in pursuit of Bakugou, probably. Morie glanced out the window intently, taking in the two familiar figures who were now in the middle of the courtyard.

 _Why does this look like a confession scene?_ Her mind pointed out.

"To the window!"

Uraraka exclaimed cheerfully as she, Mina and Tsuyu swarmed over to the side of the class immediately, practically pressing their faces against the glass as they spied on the ongoing conversation. It was a ' _fated battle between men!_ ', as Uraraka repeatedly and solemnly dubbed it, though it looked like the two were shouting at each other rather than battling. Or even talking, for that matter.

Correction, it looked more like Bakugou one-sidedly shouting at Midoriya. That sounded better.

Stepping over moments later, her gaze briefly flitted towards the smaller figure of Midoriya, before frowning as she took in the retreating figure of Bakugou wiping at his face with his sleeve. Her eyes widened at the sight, and disbelief coursed through her veins.

 _Ah... he's crying?_

It seemed that even Bakugou- strong, standoffish and impossibly talented had a human side to him. People dealt with failure in different ways- and it looked like he was possibly learning how to cope for the first time.

For some reason, the scene unraveling before them was oddly touching, and Morie found herself turning away as she silently plugged in her earphones once more, her chest feeling lighter than it had mere moments ago.

She ended up confiding the events of the day to Ren, and she stared at the messages that she got from her when she got home, laughing softly as she read through them.

.

 _BAEREN : about the other guy_

 _BAEREN : idk some people are nice but they get into pissy moods a lot don't worry about it too much_

 _BAEREN : ah and also_

 _BAEREN : people have different sides to them _

_BAEREN : that neighbour of yours included_

 _BAEREN : so cheer up bro ;-;_

 _._

... Ren was an angel.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I have a soft spot for Mashirao, so hey! Here's a fight which they actually get to fight! I rewrote this chapter several times and if I'm not wrong there was a version in which they beat Todoroki, but I scrapped that because it was too unrealistic.**

 **And I am absolutely terrified that Morie will be considered a Mary-sue because her mother is the third-ranked Hero. There was a tiny hint in the earlier chapters but I decided to drop the bomb in this chapter, because currently in the manga the third-ranking hero has not been disclosed. There's still a lot of backstory to Morie's family, which will be revealed in the future ;)**

 **On the other hand, remember that side-series I mentioned a few chapters ago? It's up now, under the name of Kerosene Hearts _._ Do check it out and leave some feedback so I know what you like. **

**What are your thoughts on this chapter?**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Ride

* * *

Morie dozed off for a while. Then the bus they were on jerked, and she sat upwards with a start like she had just seen a jumpscare.

Like what most people did after an embarrassing situation, she glanced around, sheepishly adjusting her ponytail before pretending like nothing happened. She took in a conversation going on right next to her.

"Doesn't Midoriya-chan's quirk resemble All Might's?"

\- was the question brought up by Tsuyu as they sat on the bus as it rocked from back to forth.

"All Might never gets hurt, though," Kirishima pointed out from beside her.

Tsuyu did have a point, however, Midoriya's strength seemed to be way too powerful for a simple augmentation type quirk. Heck, even their fighting styles were similar, both relying heavily on their fists.

"Yeah, though that may also mean that maybe Midoriya hasn't attained full control of his quirk yet, or maybe since he's a fan of All Might he subconsciously emulates him." Morie theorised, deep in thought, while Midoriya seemed to be immensely uncomfortable with all the spotlight that was on him.

They were currently on the way to the their first rescue training at a location outside of Yuuei. There was a faint buzz of excitement in the air as this was the first time they were going to have rescue training- which was essentially what made up a Hero, after all. What were the point of Heroes, who could not help in rescue in one way or another, after all?

"To be honest, Midoriya, I'm envious that you have such a flashy quirk."

Kirishima said, and he solidified his hand as he held it up for his inspection. "My quirk is useful, but it's pretty plain if you ask me."

"Hey hey, I told you, Kirishima," Morie sighed, giving him a nudge as she pushed back her hair, eyeing him with a small mock-glower. "Your quirk is really cool and you can count on it to defend yourself. Besides, you don't need a flashy quirk to be a successful hero- no offense, Midoriya."

"It's alright, Rie-san!" Midoriya stated, flailing his arms somewhat before he continued on earnestly. "Anyway, I think Kirishima's quirk is more than enough to go pro."

"If we're talking about strong and flashy quirks, you gotta bring up Todoroki and Bakugou," the red-haired boy brought up, red eyes darting to the side, and aforementioned boys (or at least, Bakugou) perked up at the mentions of their names. Morie's eyes lingered on the boy with white-red hair for a moment, before her lips curled downwards and she turned away pointedly.

"Bakugou-chan's always angry, so he's not going to be popular," Tsuyu pointed out bluntly, fixing the blonde boy with a blank stare as if she was deep in contemplation.

 _I think I just died inside from how straight to the point that is._

Evidently, that honest sentiment rubbed Bakugou the wrong way. Veins nearly popping out from anger, he pushed up from his seat and made to lunge at the frog-like girl, glaring as his teeth bared and he barked out.

"What the hell? You wanna fight, bitch?!"

"See?"

The frog-like girl paid him no heed, simply turning to her side and sticking out her tongue.

( _Oh gosh Tsuyu that was bloody adorable_.)

Subsequently, Kaminari smirked as he gestured at Bakugou, yellow eyes looking highly amused as he commented snidely.

"Even from the brief time our socialisation has taken place, it has been made apodictally clear that his personality is very much akin to a turd, steaming in a sewer..."

A vein bulged in Bakugou's forehead at that as he glowered at the Electricity user.

"What the hell is with that vocabulary!?"

He roared- though she highly doubted that he was the only one who was surprised.

Kaminari promptly sniggered at the blonde boy's rage, evidently enjoying the way he managed to push his buttons. Morie smiled wryly at that, deciding to join in after a moment of hesitation.

(What was the harm, right?)

"That was wonderfully eloquent, Kaminari," she resisted the urge to snicker as they bumped their fists, and she pressed her hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle her laughter. The spiky-haired boy promptly turned upon her, growling. He looked about a second away from exploding (no pun intended.)

"You piece of shit, the fuck are you laughing at?!"

But Morie couldn't take him seriously, not when the tables have turned and Bakugou Katsuki of all people was getting teased. Bless Kaminari, this was a bloody miracle!

"S-sorry," she bit out in between her laughter, not feeling very sorry at all. Then she straightened up, fixing her dark eyes on him as she put on her best straight face as she spoke.

"It's nothing- just overwhelmed by how adorable you are, Bakugou."

Her voice came out in a deadpan, and a corner of her lips curled up at that.

There was the sound of Jirou dropping her phone and Kaminari nearly falling from his seat, but other than that, the bus was shocked still into silence (where in the world had those crickets come from?) Morie was filled with a smug sense of satisfaction that even the loud, foul-mouthed and spiky-haired boy was rendered speechless, but it didn't last very long at all.

(Oh god what has she done? Bakugou would definitely be after her blood for this!)

"I'm not fucking _adorable_ , you shit!"

... She did give him the credit for recovering quickly.

A vein popped on Bakugou's forehead as he cursed loudly, looking as if it took all his willpower to not lunge forward and throttle her at that very instant. She noticed that the pink-haired girl, Mina's eyes, however, was sparkling- flecks of gold positively glimmering from within her dark eyes.

"Oh my gooosh! Morie-chan!"

Mina cried out, completely losing her shit as she squealed excitedly at the not-confession. "I didn't know he was your type!"

Morie sweatdropped at that, groaning at the misunderstanding as she resisted the powerful urge to facepalm though red was already beginning to colour her cheeks. Wasn't she obviously being sarcastic?

Someone _please_ save her from this mortification.

"She was obviously being sarcastic," Momo pointed out, frowning as she echoed her thoughts. Immediately, the dark-haired girl straightened up, grateful beyond words for Yaoyorozu's timely intervention.

She proceeded to hide her glowing face in embarrassment as she stuttered out in affirmation. "Yes, thankyousomuch!"

' _This is mortifying,'_ she groaned inwardly- why did she do that again? Was this payback for her tendencies to annoy people on purpose?

It was then did Kirishima thump her shoulder in a comforting gesture, though Kaminari was now howling with laughter.

Unsympathetic shit.

"Man, _adorable_? Hah, no wonder Bakugou's pissed off!"

.

* * *

The humiliating journey ended ten minutes later, and Morie cheered up significantly at the sight of the adorable space hero, Thirteen.

Her eyes sparkled at the sight of one of her favourite heroes of all time- rescue heroes barely got the credit they deserved. Thirteen, in her opinion, was amazing what with his calm personality and the gentleness with which he handled disaster relief. Gentlemen, in her opinion, she grudgingly admitted, were goddamn _attractive_.

Morie forced herself to pay attention as he gave an impassioned speech about how quirks could be both deadly and useful at the same time- and it was up to them to decide how to use them. She mulled over that, feeling slightly sick at that thought of using Pressure on another human being- actually, she didn't really want to think about that. Instead she fiddled with some stray marbles in her vest pocket.

"Thirteen's really cool, huh?"

Kirishima whispered in barely disguised awe, an excited grin spreading over his face as he turned to her.

"Yeah, he really is," she responded somewhat absent-mindedly, cheeks turning pink. Kirishima's grin widened, and she looked away hastily, muttering under her breath. "You didn't see anything."

"Definitely didn't see nothing," he remarked cheekily.

Morie sighed in surrender. "Double meanings, really? Kaminari's been rubbing off on you."

"Nah, I think I got that from you," Kirishima pointed out, causing a sheepish laugh to escape from her.

At the moment, the excited chatter bubbled on within the ranks of the class as they gathered together after Thirteen's speech- though the unexpected struck, deadly and unprecedented.

Aizawa-sensei was being strangely quiet. Out of curiosity, Morie followed his line of sight and her eyes widened. Right in the middle of the USJ, where the fountain was located, a black hole was forming. A hand reached out of it ominously, and it looked like it was reaching towards _them_.

"Kiri," she nudged him softly, her voice turning hushed. "Do you see that?"

Koroshima followed her line of sight, eyes widening at the disturbing sight.

"... what _is_ that?" He questioned, frowning.

A feeling of dread was settling in her stomach by now, and she felt her throat going dry.

Something wasn't right. It might be just her, but that black mist looked like a portal of sorts, and something- no, _somebody_ was coming out of it.

Then-

"- Huddle together and _don't move_! Thirteen, protect the students!"

It was the first time she saw their homeroom teacher so unhinged. The normally sloppy looking man had donned his combat goggles and stood in front of them protectively, his bandages floating about him in a flurry of movement.

"Get back- these are real villains!"

He emphasised. Pulling on his goggles, Aizawa launched himself into attack, his bandages unraveling and trailing after him as he leapt directly into the group of villains.

 _Sensei specialises in attacks against groups, but can he really defend himself and protect us at the same time?_

(But there was more.)

Another black mass was starting to form right in front of them, and out emerged a towering figure with what seemed to be black, wispy flames for a face. The flames hovered once, twice, and the slits the figure had instead of eyes flickered... was it _scrutinising_ them?

It spoke after a brief pause, the voice echoing out clearly for all of them to hear.

 _Danger's here,_ she thought, as a cold feeling began to spread through her body.

"We are the League of Villains," a seemingly disembodied voice emitted from the man made of black flames. "Today, we have come for a simple purpose- to end the life of All Might, the Symbol of Peace."

Those words alone seemed to act as the beginning- and the trigger of an entire series of occurrences.

"Stop! You have to evacuate!"

Thirteen was shouting in alarm now, and her eyes widened at the sight of Kirishima and Bakugou leaping to attack the villain, fists poised to strike. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight.

It was like the world had stopped, and her voice choked out a shout of alarm. What were they thinking? These were villains- not matter how strong they were, they didn't know the villains' quirk. They could get hurt, or even killed without the villain batting an eye!

Immediately, she made to push forward, but in that instant, it all went down to _shit_.

With a shudder, the floating black mass begin to grow larger and larger, until it had them completely encompassed within the darkness. It swallowed them whole, lurking about them with blazing malice- and the reality of the situation hit her as her world began to spin.

(They could very well be dead by the end of today.)

.

* * *

Suddenly Morie was falling. She was tumbling into an unknown heat, and her eyes opened to searing pain.

An angry, red burn had formed on her right arm and leg as she had evidently been tossed directly into flames. Her body had been spared the same fate due to her handy Hero costume, though her arm and her right leg seemed to be in pretty bad shape.

Pushing herself up, she flinched at the jolt of pain which shot through her, causing her knuckles to tighten and whiten as she gripped her side, wincing.

Around her stood worn-down buildings and flames- just her luck that she, of all people was currently stranded in the flame zone in the USJ. Any wrong move while she used her quirk could result in the flames going crazy, a.k.a she might get burned alive. Being burned alive wasn't the most appealing way one could die, and neither was the thought of dying from asphyxiation.

"Minamoto-san!"

She jolted up at the familiar voice.

The sight of Mashirao was a much welcomed one as she recognised his light blonde hair and mild features. He hurried over quickly, skilfully darting around the flames in the vicinity as he headed in her direction.

"We have to go- there are villains after us."

"I can see that," Morie stated, paling at the sudden presence of around three hostile enemies about ten metres behind them. "Let's go."

They started off in the direction of where the centre of the USJ would be. The villains were consistently some ways behind them- if they slipped up or hit a dead end, they would have no choice but to fight. Then a jet of flames soared past them, and they quickened their pace.

"They're breathing fire."

Mashirao stated, the smallest of frowns creasing his usual neutral expression.

"Explains why they like the fire, then."

Morie chuckled weakly at that statement in response. Breathing was harder than usual- was it just an effect of the numerous flames burning up the supply oxygen, or was it just her... ?

"Are you certain that you are alright, Minamoto-san? Those burns look rather serious," Mashirao questioned, fixing upon her a worried stare.

"No," she admitted begrudgingly. "But I'll be fine."

There was hardly any other option for them. They were injured, outnumbered, and at a severe disadvantage. Morie refused the idea of getting caught or defeated by the villains (she was sure Mashirao felt the same) so all they could do at this point was run. It was a desperate option, but if it could keep them alive, she would gladly keep on running in spite of her injuries.

She could handle a little pain, right?

Ironically, just as that thought crossed her mind, a slew of flames hit her across her back and she let out a cry, stumbling slightly. She was terribly lucky in the sense that her suit was fireproof as well, but yet she was unlucky in the sense that the whole situation seemed to be mocking her.

Steering Mashirao off their original path, she raised her hand and visualised the pressure gradients of the air around them to flow and fuel the fires- the pressure in the air was already high enough, thanks to the unbearable heat of the scorching flames. With a roar, the flames grew to an incredible height- the villains could not chase them if they could not see them, after all.

They ducked behind a pillar, seeking cover from the flames, their breathing coming in heavy and ragged gasps.

Then-

"Minamoto-san, your hair!"

The touch of alarm in Mashirao's normally calm voice set her on edge immediately, and Morie's eyes widened.

Out of the corner of her eye, her ponytail of dark brown hair was set alight at the end with small flames. The situation would have been very much comical if the fire had not been inching up her ponytail and creeping dangerously closer to her head.

Morie's eyes roamed the surroundings wildly- there were no sources of water which she could use, and they were running out of time to hide. The diversion wouldn't last for long, they need another plan as soon as possible.

What should she do? Try to blow the fire out? No, that was impossibly stupid, the fire was too big. Smother the fire with her hands? Again, the fire was too large for that, not too mention they had nothing on hand that could effectively smother it.

There had to be a way but _nonono-_ she couldn't think why couldn't she think?

Agitation shot through her as she was almost on the verge of losing her nerve, but she forced herself to take in a deep breath as she dispelled the incoherent thoughts from her mind.

(" _Breathe_ \- ")

\- and she silently made a decision.

Whipping her gloved hands inside her vest, she procured what was none other than a Swiss Army Knife, which had been hidden in her vest pocket as one of her emergency tools. Morie stared at the blade in her hand, feeling the weight in her hands. Her fingers curled around it. Tightened.

Then she swallowed.

Gathering up every last bit of her resolve, she brought the blade up to the back of her neck, pressing against the dark brown strands firmly. Deliberately, she brought the blade across swiftly- once, twice?

(She lost count.)

Accompanied with the sudden action was the sound of her hair elastic snapping as the length of her ponytail was now splayed out on the floor, looking sad, charred, and lifeless. They sizzled with small sparks of deadly flames, and Morie glanced at them with a strange detachment, knife still in hand and breathing heavily.

Stowing away her knife, she shook her head, shaking off the stray strands as she increased the pressure around her, and the resulting breeze gathered up her strands of hair. The breeze began to carry the strands somewhere, letting them float leisurely in the wind, in the direction opposite of where they would go. The great flames would have burned over their tracks by now. It was best if they discovered her hair in another place, and went off looking in the wrong direction.

Then-hair, now-decoys. Impassively, Morie turned back to face her comrade.

"Let's go, Mashirao." She said quietly, already creeping towards an opening in the flames pulling her helmet and her visor back on. Without comment, Mashirao followed after her as they disappeared once more into the sea of flames, making the last dash for safety.

Right now, she might have been the one holding Mashirao back, but it was precisely because of that that she swore to herself to personally ensure that both of them would get through this alive.

(There were no words to express how much she appreciated his thoughtful silence. Her mind was growing clearer and clearer now by the minute, but she pushed aside her unnecessary thoughts and focused on running. Adrenaline was kicking in now, numbing her pain, and a smile split across her face.

There was hope.)

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **In which Rie pulls a Mulan. Or a Sakura.** **I was thinking of it as a metaphor.**

 **It was about time that she got some bad luck, don't you think?**

 **I still think Horikoshi is a genius for pulling off the whole 'calm before the storm' thing in this chapter. On the other hand, the whole Rie being sarcastic with Bakugou thing was inspired by a scene in school.**

 **Thoughts?**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Flowery Words

* * *

The usual bustle of the classroom didn't bother her. She was surprisingly without her earphones, and was quietly drawing. Her pencil continued to skim the surface of her notebook even as her thoughts wandered.

It seemed so peaceful- but then again, anything would seem peaceful after the train wreck that was yesterday. Being alive had never felt more like a privilege given to them.

All Might had come through in the end, and the appearance of the Pro Heroes had been what saved them in the end- and it was unarguably all thanks to their class president, Iida.

(She had had her doubts about him at first, that was for sure, but he was the one who came through for them in the end.)

The events of yesterday flashed through her mind vividly, as if the raging flames had burned themselves into her memory. Her right arm and right leg were covered in bandages (her burns were nothing Recovery Girl couldn't fix, though the bandages would ensure that her skin would recover better.) In the whole class, she and Midoriya had been the only ones to get hurt- even though the only reason Midoriya got hurt was because he used his quirk. She really owed Mashirao for having her back as they snuck out from the flame-filled hellhole, and reunited with the rest of their classmates safely.

Currently, she sat in her usual spot beside Kirishima, and she found that in her absent-minded state, she had begin to sketch out the outlines of what looked suspiciously like fire.

"Morie-chan!"

She looked up, slightly startled by the mention of her name, only to spot the pink-skinned Ashido Mina in front of her table, accompanied by her few other classmates- Sero, Tsuyu and Kaminari, to name a few. Setting down her pencil, she sent a quizzical look at them, though only directing her greeting at the pink-skinned girl.

"Hello, Mina-chan."

(... no pun intended.*)

A confused smile spread over her face which she directed at the pink-skinned girl, who promptly plopped herself into the seat in front of her, fixing her with a wide-eyed gaze. The pink-skinned girl got to the point immediately, though she sheepishly fumbled around with her fingers beforehand as if she was feeling embarrassed for what she was going to say.

"Morie-chan, if it isn't too much to ask, could you tell us what happened to your hair?" She asked, sounding like she was dying to know what happened.

The question should have come as a surprise, but somehow it didn't, but Morie felt a stifling sense of self-consciousness being imposed onto her nevertheless.

A hand reached up unconsciously to touch the back of her now short, brown locks. She hadn't had the time to clean up her hairstyle yesterday, and as a result her hair remained choppy and uneven. The back of her head felt strangely light, however, now that her ponytail had been reduced to a length which barely brushed the bottom of her ears.

(This would normally be the bit where she made a joke about not needing charcoal because her hair did the job just fine, but she decided that it was too soon.)

Glancing up at Mina and her bright, curious eyes, she could vaguely feel various curious gazes on her, including that of Kirishima, who was evidently trying hard not to eavesdrop on them- and failing. She averted her gaze immediately, in order to to avoid eye contact with anyone else.

Trying not to squirm from her discomfort, she finally sighed, relenting.

"It's sort of embarrassing," she admitted freely. "I was with Mashirao in the Conflagration Zone, and I got hit by one of the villain's quirk. My hair got set on fire and I cut it off because it was spreading too quickly. That's it, I guess."

Maybe they were expecting an epic tale of how she escaped the villain's grasp on her hair by cutting it off, before badassedly escaping with her life. But no such thing had happened.

She was thankful that no one was laughing at her, because now that she looked back she found the whole hair-on-fire situation to be highly amusing. Morie didn't regret cutting off her hair, however- she certainly didn't relish the idea of slowly being burned alive like a candle.

"Ah, it must have been so hard for you to do that, Morie-chan!"

Mina exclaimed in sympathy, an incredulous look flashing over her usual impish features, earning various nods from various girls scattered across the class. Morie sweatdropped at the sight of Uraraka's head bobbing up and down especially vigorously, the hands of the pink-cheeked girl grasping at the brown clumps of hair which hung by her head.

(It had been a hard decision, certainly, but it got easy the moment she realised that she had no other option.)

"I just did what I had to do," she reasoned instead, tapping her chin thoughtfully, though hesitation entered her voice at what she said next. "Personally, I think there's a lot more at stake than hair when we're all aiming to become heroes."

(At that, she recalled the fear she felt whenever she saw her mother on live broadcasts of villain attacks, vaguely remembered the never-ending anxiety that would strike her when her mother didn't come home on time- )

There was a heavy silence that followed that made Morie instantly regret dragging the conversation down that more depressing road. Nervously, she cleared her throat and stared downwards at her clasped hands, waiting for someone to say something, but not really expecting it.

"Simple and manly, Rie-san!"

Kirishima turned to her, the first to break the silence. Tears comically gushed out from his eyes as he addressed her, looking immensely moved- oh gosh, was he really _crying_?

Morie glanced at him, clearing her throat awkwardly ( _'I'm not a man cough and please don't cry-'_ ) though she turned pink from the compliment nevertheless- being called manly by Kirishima was like probably one of the greatest honours that one could. Honestly, she didn't get what Kirishima saw in her which made him think she was anywhere worthy of being called 'manly, but in the meantime...

"Ah, thanks," she mumbled, before impulsively hiding her pink face with her arms as she slumped onto her table, just as tears filled Mina's dewy-looking eyes and she was smothered with a tight, choking hug. "I guess. Do you need a tissue?"

The hug was warm and comfortable, considering Mina was an extremely huggable person. But suddenly she was getting swamped by groups of classmates (even the level-headed Tsuyu silently wrapped her arms around her with a blank, sullen look) and the vast amount of physical contact freaked her out a little, though she grew used to it after a while.

It was strange that everyone noticed her now because of her impromptu haircut. The attention made her uncomfortable to no end, and she hoped dearly that it would fade away quickly- not when she felt so self-conscious about the way she looked now. But at the very least, she felt rest-assured that her class consisted of good, kind people, who still knew what it meant to feel.

The vain part of her was stupid, impossibly so, but she couldn't help but dislike her new hairstyle, how her now boyish-looking hair looked on her childish features- wait, no, shut up! One's hair could grow back, but it wasn't like reincarnation could actually happen like in the stories!

Hadn't she said it herself? She and Mashirao made it- a few minor burns and some charcoal-reduced hair was nothing. Having extremely short hair was definitely not completely bad, either. For one, washing her hair had taken considerably less time than usual yesterday- in fact, her shower time had been reduced so much that there was no doubt that the monthly water bills would make her father rejoice; not to mention that it was certainly more practical than her old ponytail- it wouldn't go around being grabbed or set on fire anytime soon, that was for sure. The methodical flow of thoughts gave her comfort, and she settled into her cycle of reassuring herself.

 _That's right. I can live with this. You and Mashirao are alive- that counts for something, right? And what with the way my Hero costume is designed, I would have gone for a haircut sooner or later. Heck, I got one this time for free!_

The class was quickly shushed by Iida, who had stormed over to his seat in a hurry when he realised that he was, in fact, the only one not in his seat. Then the door slid open, and a heavily-bandaged Aizawa-sensei entered the class, in a fashion much reminiscent of a mummy.

(And quite literally, too. He looked like he had risen from the dead.)

 _'Shouldn't he be resting up?'_ Morie questioned silently as the rest of the class burst out in yells of astonishment at their homeroom teacher's sudden reappearance. ' _Is Thirteen-sensei alright, then?'_ She wondered, but didn't dare to speak up- no point in drawing more unneeded attention to herself.

Aizawa raised his head, long black hair falling over his face in a shaggy mess. His eyes swept the class briefly and wearily, still looming bloodshot and red-tinged from the events of yesterday.

"Don't concern yourselves over me."

He remarked, sounding more worn-out than usual- though she could have sworn that he had a grim smile on his face. "After all, the battle isn't over yet."

Mineta's agonised cry rang out shrilly. "You mean- _more_ villains?!"

"The moment Yuuei sets villains on its students is the moment the Hero business goes to shit," she muttered at the ridiculous notion.

Aizawa fixed his students with a plain-looking stare that suggested that he highly wished that they would stop wasting time and just stop talking, before continuing on as if there hadn't been any interruption at all.

"Yuuei's Sports Festival is coming," he finished, much to the surprise of virtually the whole class at how utterly ordinary it sounded.

Had it been any other Sports Festival, Morie would have been surprised at how deceptively mundane the event seemed to be- but this was _Yuuei's_ Sports Festival, the competition which replaced the bloody _Tokyo Olympics_. It was pretty strange being reminded of exactly how prestigious Yuuei's name was, based on what a big deal this was alone.

 _I wonder if Mom would scout me just because I'm her daughter,_ she thought, though she shook her head and convinced herself that that would not be the case- she was certain that her mother would be as unbiased as possible, and would give her the chance to go to her office if she thought she was worthy. If anything, her mother was likely to be stricter on her than everybody else. In the event that she _did,_ by some miracle get scouted by her mother, however, she would be the happiest (wo)man in the world.

With that said, it did serve as a good source of motivation.

' _Wouldn't it be nice to actually do well in something for once?_ ' The thought was entertained by her as she fidgeted with a pencil, gears in her mind clicking into place.

Amidst the excitement of her classmates, Morie sat in silence, fingers tapping on the table lightly as she fell deep into contemplation. She had to formulate a plan, first and foremost; she had a little over two weeks to improve on her weakness and more importantly, strengthen her quirk- show the world that even though her quirk was unflashy and difficult to use, it was hers and hers alone. She would have to write down her plan as well, if not she would never remember to stick to it.

"Rie-san, aren't you excited?"

Kirishima asked from the neighbouring table, a wide grin on his face- it was clear that he was very much looking forward to the Sports Festival as she spotted a familiar flash of determination in his eyes.

Her eyes flicked over to him, and she faintly thought that this was the type of competition he would flourish in. A manly, intense competition for a manly, high-spirited guy. It was all fitting, to her.

"Of course," she responded softly, resisting the urge to smile. "Let's do our best."

He returned the smile, and as they hung around after class, she couldn't help but think that this competition would be the ultimate testament of how much they had grown. Maybe it could even act as a measure as to whether she was any more worthy of her mother than she was mere weeks ago.

.

* * *

Lunch that day turned out to be more lively than usual, and Morie figured that it was likely due to the news of the Sports Festival.

The eatery was more crowded than usual, and as Morie queued up, she briefly turned around to see where Kirishima was sitting, before her eyes met with that of the person behind her.

Taking in blue hair, she took a moment to place where she saw his face before, before she recognised him as the boy from the entrance exams. He stared back at her impassively, and she found herself smiling nevertheless.

"It's you," she stated, feeling pleasantly surprised as she glanced at the boy. "I keep seeing you around but we never got introduced."

The boy stared at her silently, eyes looking almost sullen. She didn't know what to make out of his dead-eyed expression, instead shifting around so that they could converse better.

"You look different." He stated at last, and Morie wondered why he seemed so reluctant to tell her his name.

"Yeah, I had to cut my hair," she laughed, though at her own expense. "What's your name, by the way?"

She could feel his appraising look staring her down, though he did respond.

(Eventually, that is.)

"Hitoshi Shinsou," he introduced himself remarkably unexcitedly. "General Studies. You're from Class A."

It was a statement, not a question, and she didn't know what to make of it. "Yeah, I'm -"

"- next order, miss?"

An apologetic look was sent his way as her words were cut off. She never did end up telling him her name in return as she approached the front of the queue to place her order- the moment she turned back around to speak to him, he was gone.

 _Where did he go?_

Frowning, she picked up her tray and walked back towards the table where Kaminari and Sero were currently seated, eyes darting around in an attempt to spot striking blue hair amongst the sea of browns and blacks, but to no avail- somehow, she felt sorely disappointed. She hadn't minded talking to him to the guy in the least- thought that comment about her being in Class A seemed to clue her in on something. Recalling his tone and his vague expression (how did he even know that?), it then dawned on her that he sounded bitter. It was just a hint, but there was definitely some animosity either towards her or her class.

(Shinsou Hitoshi, in her opinion, was strange. Morie wondered if the rumours that drifted about him during lunch were true- even though she highly doubted it. Gossiping was an enjoyable hobby but after news passed by so many storytellers, it was hard to discern what was true and what was not. The boy in question was standoffish, but not overly quiet. Briefly, Morie thought back to the Entrance Exam and realised that she hadn't seen his quirk.

... How curious.)

.

"C'mon and sit with us, Bakugou!"

Kirishima was bringing his tray over, and he looked like he was following the other spiky-haired boy around in the process. The said abrasive boy was bad-temperedly grumbling under his breath at his newfound shadow, occasionally throwing dirty looks over his shoulder at the redhaired boy. The redhaired boy's grin only widened in satisfaction.

"Dammit, stop following me around, you shitty hair-for-brains!"

He barked, whirling around to snap at the red-haired boy. But Kirishima didn't stop. Instead, it seemed that Bakugou's statement seemed to have strengthened his resolve, if anything.

"Listen, you're a manly guy, Bakugou," Kirishima stated, eyes fixing on Bakugou's eyes intently as his voice took a serious turn. "But it's not cool that you're always alone. Give sitting with us a chance, man."

It seemed that genuine sincerity could penetrate anything- even Bakugou's cold, cold heart. He glared at Kirishima, and for a moment she was certain that he would say 'no', but much to her surprise, he didn't.

A second passed. Then two. Then he was grumbling under his breath.

"Fine." The blonde boy stormed over, slamming his tray onto the seat opposite of her, growling. "Fucking _fine_. I'll give you the honour of me sitting at your damn table."

A brilliant grin split across Kirishima's face at his success, and Morie laughed softly at how happy he looked. Ever since the attack from the Villains, Kirishima's attitude towards Bakugou had seemingly undergone a tremendous change, something which amazed her. The red-haired boy seemed to idolise the blond-haired boy, if his newfound clinginess was something to go by.

From beside Bakugou, Kaminari paled suddenly and she raised an eyebrow at that, sending him a questioning look. For a moment, she could have sworn that he looked absolutely cowed that Bakugou was next to him, the expression being comparable to his default 'idiot' expression.

"Stop doing that, Rie-san," he complained, as if in denial of his own discomfort. Morie raised her eyebrow once more persistently.

 _'Don't tell me you're scared of Bakugou?'_ She mouthed. Kaminari seemed to catch the gist of what she was trying to say, as he jolted up and shook his head profusely, furiously whispering _'nonono I don't!'_

From beside them, Bakugou appeared to be plainly disinterested in the conversation, though upon closer inspection a corner of his lips were curled up in a satisfied leer. From beside Kaminari, Sero snickered, his shoulders shaking from his silent laughter.

"You brought that on yourself, bro," the black-haired boy stated, referring to the time Kaminari teased Bakugou on the bus. Kaminari sighed in exasperation as he abruptly cleared his throat in an attempt to salvage his dignity.

"Anyway," his yellow gaze darted away from Bakugou pointedly and towards Morie, before he leaned into his hand, lips curled up in a smile.

She raised an eyebrow at that.

"Say, Morie-chan," Kaminari's voice took on a smooth quality as he leaned forward slightly.

She imagined that he must have been trying to look suave, though the effect was largely ruined by the bowl of ramen he was leaning over. "What do you think about going out for lunch sometime soon? Just the two of us?"

A pink flush rose upwards to her cheeks as quickly as it disappeared, and Morie fixed him with a perplexed stare, aware of the yellow-haired boy's flirtatious tendencies but never expecting herself to be a target of them.

"Sorry," she said, not really feeling sorry at all- though she did try to squash his advances in the nicest way possible. "In all honesty, Kaminari, shouldn't you be focusing on the Sports Festival?"

"What about _after_ the Sports Festival?" He asked, deflating a bit but still very much persistent.

Morie sighed, sheepishly running her hands through her hair, feeling conflicted.

"I don't know, I might consider. You're probably better off hitting on someone else though," she commented politely, before adding after a moment of consideration. "Just saying."

"Point taken." The electricity user sighed, albeit somewhat dramatically, slumping back in his seat in dejection. Off to the side, Sero was cackling at the rejection, hugging his sides.

"Serves you right," he chortled unsympathetically, sending a pointed look at the sulking boy beside him. "Keep this up and you're going to run out of girls to ask out."

"Well, Jirou and Asui are pretty cute- " The yellow-haired boy hummed thoughtfully.

"And you wonder why you get rejected so often," she deadpanned, sending the said boy an unimpressed look. Kaminari sent her a grin of unwavering confidence.

"I have utmost faith in my natural charms, Morie-chan," he winked, casually crossing his arms as a corner of his lip curled.

She smiled crookedly at that.

"I guess there _is_ appeal in resembling a Pikachu," Morie hummed, eyes glinting humorously as the said boy who resembled a Pikachu in question sputtered. Sero outright collapsed over the table in his laughter, and she could've sworn that even Bakugou nearly let out a snort.

Sometimes uncanny resemblances went unnoticed until you pointed them out.

"I'm sure someone will agree to going out with me eventually," Kaminari recovered, playing it off.

On the other hand, Kirishima hummed in thought, a small frown forming on his face. "I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be talking about girls like that."

Hell yeah. Morie beamed at the boy- seriously, how precious could he get?

"At this rate you're going, no one's gonna agree to date you, Kaminari," she sighed exasperatedly. "Hell, if you were asking me to choose, I would rather date someone like- Bakugou, maybe."

 _Shit, I forgot that he's right here- what am I doing?_

The spiky-haired boy in question seemed a tad bit more calm than usual (such was the effect of food) though he snapped up at the mention of his name, scowling on impulse.

"What the hell? What is that supposed to mean?"

... she brought this on herself, didn't she?

Morie sheepishly fiddled with her fingers. In her mental search for any notable disagreeable people, Bakugou's name had just slipped out- not intentionally, but the the damage was done.

(Time to start screaming internally. Maybe preorder a coffīn or two, while she was at it.)

"It just means that I would date you over Kaminari- it's a compliment. No offense." She stated in reply, though she did feel rather meek under the boy's red-eyed glare. Then, she quickly forced herself to maintain eye-contact with him to show that she was indeed telling the truth- or mostly.

The red-eyed boy snorted in disbelief at her words, but evidently couldn't be bothered to deal with her any more than he had to as he turned back to his lunch without another word, grumpily shoving spoonfuls of rice into his mouth. Beside him, Kaminari sniggered at her sudden lack of coherence and Morie's cheeks flushed, turning a bright shade of pink from her mortification.

"Shuddap, Pikachu," she mumbled under her breath, before proceeding to stuff a mouthful of rice in her mouth furiously.

.

* * *

The next two weeks were as fulfilling as they were fun. Most of the afternoon training sessions let them have free reign on whatever they wanted to do. She focused on exploring the limits of her quirk and strengthening her endurance as much as possible.

There were several ideas that were surfacing to mind as she thought of different, unconventional ways to use her quirk- first, she had to figure out the exact theories of how changing pressure would enable her to do so. Following that, she had to put those theories into practice.

...Explaining why Morie was currently stumbling and flailing about in mid-air, a good five feet above the ground, positively freaking out as she was desperately trying to figure out how she should adjust the pressure so she could move around.

 _Shitshitshit_ -

She screamed (internally), trying to force herself to calm down already as her legs tried to accustom themselves to standing on air. The air particles around her was in absolute disarray and sensing the pressure underneath her drop slightly, she hastily increased the pressure exerted on her feet- though it was a tad bit too much and sent her propelling upwards.

Coming to a stop, she adjusted the pressure around her, keeping in mind her normal limit of five metres as she took a step forward.

Then another.

It was working fairly well, so she lowered herself to the ground unsteadily and made to kick off into the air again. Jumping off the ground, she increased the pressure exerted by her feet as she jumped, before visualising a pressure gradient that would allow some wind to help propel her off the ground. Undoubtedly, it was a tedious process, but if flying became an option for her then the Sports Festival would be made so much more easier for her.

Attempting to start jogging forward, she neglected to make sure that the pressure was enough to support her weight before taking her next step.

"Fuck."

(Because what other word was more fitting for a situation like this?)

She swore softly as the air below her failed to hold her weight as she was sent tumbling down into a patch of forest nearby. It was far too late to scold herself for being an idiot and forgetting that she had to manually readjust the pressure.

 _Who even does that?_ She remarked. _Oh, let me just forget this one step of controlling your quirk that could potentially result in a life-or-death situation. You mean you remembered to do it right after you began to fall? Good job!_

As the wind whistled in her face as she fell, she hastily attempted imagining her pressure gradients for some wind to form, in an attempt to stop the fall as she had done once for Kirishima- but either she wasn't doing it fast enough, or she messed something up and the resulting wind wasn't strong enough- because all it did was slow down the speed of her fall as she broke through the treeline, flinching as leaves and branches scratched at her skin.

Finally Morie came into a clearing and found herself falling towards someone; she was barely able to yell out a warning as she fell onto him and they both toppled onto the ground with a yelp. A shot of pain surged through her leg as the impact forced her to crash forward, and she winced at the sickening cracking sound.

"What the hell," the person who was unfortunate enough to have been standing in that very clearing groaned, shifting around underneath her. With a slightly horrified feeling bubbling within her at that familiar voice, she glanced at the person beneath her- only to take in spiky-blonde hair and an irritated expression.

Bakugou.

... which gods had she offended this time?

"Shit," she swore softly, before she awkwardly shifted herself off of him. Pain shot through her leg once more as she winced, but brought herself up to a sitting position next to the boy nonetheless.

Leaning in slightly to inspect him for any injuries, she snapped back slightly in alarm as his red eyes snapped open and focused onto her, narrowing as they did so.

Understandably, Morie freaked out a bit, bowing her head as she spoke.

"Sorry about that, I lost control," she explained softly, before she let out a sigh. "You're not hurt, are you?"

There was a jerk of his head, which she took to mean as a 'no'.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, she slumped back, smiling at him. "Well, I'm glad to hear that."

She caught sight of a glaringly obvious gash on his arm, probably from when she crashed into him, and she shifted forward to inspect the injury at once.

"I can help you bandage that, if you want." Morie offered, eyeing the gash guiltily.

There was a brief moment of silence. Suddenly she was alarmed once more as she sensed a rabid change of atmosphere as the blonde-haired boy's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. For reasons she could not comprehend, he leaned forward menacingly, his teeth bared, and her breath hitched at his glare- god it was _terrifying_ when he pulled stunts like this, not to mention their close proximity.

 _"_ Who the fuck do you think you are? _"_

He growled, his voice taking on a low and threatening edge as his red eyes bored into her own dark ones, and somehow she got the feeling that his words, raw and angered, was not all directed at her. It reminded her a lot like the Classroom Scheme; only this time she actually had no idea what she had done to piss off Mr Spiky Hair. Freezing in her position, she was momentarily unsure of how she should react.

After all, people usually _didn't_ snap when you offered to help them. Even for someone like her who didn't like to be helped, his reaction was incomprehensible to her. The foreignness of the situation was unsettling as her brain racked itself on tips on what she should do in this strange, unfathomable situation.

Maybe her words had somehow reminded him of a bad memory, something that struck a deep chord of him. Or he had taken offense to her offer of help. Even though his face was a mere inches from her own, she did not back away, instead taking the time to examine his rage-filled features as she mentally tried to figure him out. For some reason, she was suddenly reminded of the day she saw him shed tears in the midst of his shouting at Midoriya, and she wondered if his apparent hatred for being helped-slash-looked down upon was in any way related to his history with the sweet, curly-haired Midoriya.

Morie shifted sideways a little after, leaning forward as she awkwardly patted him on the shoulder like how Kirishima usually did to her, surprising herself. It lasted only for a second before she jolted back, meeting his gaze evenly after that.

(Her world was spinning now. It hadn't been earlier, but it felt like someone was playing a game of teacups in her mind.)

"If you had gotten hurt, it would've been my fault. I need to make up for my mistakes and all that, that's all there is to it," she stated, staring up at him unblinkingly. It was admittedly really weird- having to explain why she wanted to help was a first; most would just accept or deny it, as simple as that. "I don't look down on you in the least and I'm sorry if I made you feel like that."

Bakugou sat in silence. His red eyes narrowed down at her before he looked away, moving to get up as he did so. He didn't notice the way her dark eyes slid in and out of focus; or how she attempted to stand on her broken leg and failed miserably.

"Fuck off," he bit out at last, sticking his hands in his pockets as he turned and made to leave. "Just get out of here so I can continue training."

There was suddenly a soft thud, and the blonde spiky-haired boy spared a glance behind him, though what he saw caused his irritation to spike to a whole new level.

... What the fuck? Did the bitch just fucking _faint_ on him?

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 _ *** - 'Mina-chan' sounds like 'everybody' in Japanese.**_

 **From this chapter on, updates are going to be slower and I might take a short break from writing around September to November as I'm taking a national exam in that period (rip). Just giving you a heads-up first becauase I don't want you to worry about the lack of any updates sometime from now haha. Writer's block has also been an ass so you might notice that things are less fluid from this chapter on- I apologise in advance for that. Do leave feedback on how I can improve and I'll do my best in making sure that the quality doesn't deviate too much.** **Thank you.**

 **And back to the story!** **Bakugou is the one person Morie has difficulty analysing (he is the king of mixed signals and I don't mean the romantic sort), which results in an awkward attempt to make him calm down. Then she faints.**

 **All in all, p** **robably the first noteworthy interaction between them ;)**

 **Thoughts?**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Mind-Blowing 

* * *

.

"Where are we going again?"

Kaminari wondered aloud. Behind them, metres away, Kirishima and Sero chatted on, not a care in the world. A little ways in front of the duo, a pink and lively Mina Ashido (who decided to tag along at the last minute) skipped, letting out little cheers of ' _yippee!_ ' as the bright, imp-like grin didn't disappear from her face for even a moment.

"To be honest, you bunch should have asked me that before you started to follow me." Morie responded at last, feeling just a tad bit weirded out by being so blatantly followed by her school mates.

She had just let slip that she had been planning on going somewhere after school that day- just to take a break from the preparation of the Sports Festival a bit. But her slip of the tongue had somehow resulted in her gaining this band of adorable stalkers.

"Geez, we want to surprise ourselves. Just let us," Kaminari shrugged.

Feeling somewhat exasperated, Morie strode onward, turning the next corner. Then she stopped and waited for them to follow. It would be on her if they got themselves lost in her home district, after all. The moment she spotted them walking out of the turn, confirming that they did not somehow lose their way, she continued walking onward, suppressing a sigh as she did so.

So much for reaching home quickly to touch up on her commission. Yesterday, she had woken up in the infirmary shortly before getting chewed out by the small, sweet, and surprisingly intimidating Recovery Girl. Her memory was somewhat hazy at the moment, so she had no idea at all how she ended up there in the first place.

Sure, the Sports Festival was coming up, but it wasn't like she could do any quirk training after just recovering from a faint the day before. The thing about Pressure was that being exposed to high pressures for too long messed up her own blood pressure- the result was migraines, dizzy spells and often she ended up throwing faints.

"Rie-san!"

She tensed up but considerably relaxed when she recognised the voice to be Kirishima's. Pausing in her footsteps, a series of quick shuffles ensued and she turned to catch sight of Kirishima, his hand over his neck and a grin on his face. "Hey man, come walk with us!"

"The faster I get my stuff, the less time time you all will waste on me," was the blunt answer and she wondered why she could hear Kaminari facepalming in the background.

It was Sero who spoke, fixing his black eyes onto her plainly. "We wouldn't have followed you if we didn't want to kill time," he pointed out and a small pink tint flushed over Morie's cheeks.

"Oh."

There was a moment of silence, and inwardly she squirmed awkwardly.

"Okay then." She stated somewhat meekly.

Falling into step beside Kirishima, she felt someone ruffle her hair with a small fawn (Mina, probably) before she allowed a smile to crack over her features, though somewhat unsurely.

"You are so _cuteee_ ," Mina squealed, eyeing her with those shiny eyes of hers. "Just you wait, one day I'll steal you away to have lunch with the girls, heh!"

"Uh," she spoke dumbly, not sure as to how she should react, though she quickly snapped herself out of her slightly bewildered state to focus on the pink-skinned girl, before shyly breaking out into a wide smile. "Sure. That'd be nice."

The others suddenly began to coo over her and she squirmed uncomfortably as she suddenly felt like she was being treated like a particularly fluffy cat. Then her face glowed a vivid red and she squirmed from their clutches, breaking away before hurriedly leading them into her favourite shop of all time.

"A stationery shop?"

Kaminari pondered out loud, a small frown of befuddlement on his features.

"No- it's an art supply shop."

Morie corrected rather softly, though her lips were already curling up in silent appreciation as she headed towards a corner of the shop and easily retrieved a bottle of paint coating, before she picked out a new liner brush and hurried towards the counter. Behind her, the group were wandering about in the shop, with varying looks of awe across their faces. Kirishima, for one, was particularly interested in the small section of the shop were styrofoam busts were located.

Setting her chosen items on the desk of the counter, she fished out her membership card and a few notes.

"Good afternoon, Rose-san." Morie's head bowed. The familiar lady looked at her, a small beam on her shiny features before she expertly tugged out a plastic bag from her arm and began to help pack her items.

"Glad to see you back again, Morie-chan." The woman chuckled. "Is that a Yuuei uniform I see?"

"Yeah," she smiled in reply, and the woman continued on, her expression swelling with pride. "My son goes there too, you know? First in our family to go into Hero business."

Morie blinked as she stowed away her purchase in her bag. That was certainly interesting. Rose had a son? She certainly didn't look like she was that aged, though she did admittedly have those stern, motherly vibes about her.

Glancing up at the woman, she then spoke, straightening up as she did so. "Your son? What's his name?"

"Well," a new, yet familiar voice interjected evenly. "That would be me."

She turned around and gaped at Sero who was now standing behind her, and was looking slightly embarrassed as he faced the woman behind the counter.

"... hey, mom," he greeted cordially, and her jaw dropped. The older woman's eyes crinkled as her smile widened at the sight of the black-haired boy.

"Hey, son." Rose replied, reaching out a hand to beckon her son forward for a hug. "School is going well, I hope?"

"Yeah, it's okay," Sero half-shrugged. "We had training today."

Morie's eyes darted in between them, from Rose's plastic bag quirk to Sero's tape quirk, the plain, unassuming look to their expressions, and the fact of how strangely familiar Sero had seemed to appear when she first met the guy.

It finally sunk in a few moments later.

' _Holy shit_ ,' she screamed silently at the utterly curious coincidence and the fact that she certainly had _not_ realised it before. This put her (possibly non-existent) observational skills to complete shame. ' _Woah what were the odds whaaat how could you not have noticed you idiot this is nothing short of mindblowing- '_

"Um," Sero's voice rang out somewhat uncomfortably as he prodded her side lightly. "Minamoto, you alright?"

.

* * *

"That was awkward," Kirishima remarked offhandedly with a little whistle as she walked the group back to the station, still unable to get over the fact that she has been acquainted with Mama Sero for what- at least three years now? And not once this year did she question why Sero's plain-ish features resembled Rose's so much.

The red-haired boy peered into her face then, waving his hand around a little before turning to face Sero at her outward lack of reaction. "Dude, I think you broke her."

Then a splash of bright pink entered her vision as Mina leaned in, dark, sparkly eyes focusing on her and fingers wiggling about with a promise that she was about to do something shewould not like at all.

"Morie-chaaan," the Acid user called out in a singsong tone, before proceeding to mush her cheeks, but that was not all- shortly afterwards she began to brutally pull at them. Naturally Morie flailed backwards at the assault, cheeks now a burning (and painful) red as she attempted to squirm out of the Mina's grasp.

" _Arghlemmegostopthat-_ " She continued to squirm uncomfortably, cheeks mushed together and all, and the pink-skinned girl finally relented as she laid off her face. She rubbed her hands over her now sore cheeks and softly grumbled out. "Ouch, thanks."

Morie blew a few strands away from her face, her hair having been messed up from the Assault, stuck in a feeling that was located somewhere between exasperated and cranky. Cheeks still red and tired from the mushy-treatment, she turned and rejoined Kirishima's side in a flash.

"I should try that some time," the boy let out a hum, and the most horrifying thing in that statement was that it seemed like he was completely and utterly serious about it, what with that small gleam to his bright eyes and the fact that he was grinning more widely than usual. Without skipping a beat, she scowled.

"Please don't," came the immediate reply as she scooted away by a few steps just for good measure.

Kaminari chose this moment point to interrupt, gesturing towards a row of shops next to the station. "Is that a chicken karaage shop?"

"Hm?" Morie stopped in her tracks for a moment to glance over at the shop in question, eyebrows knitted for a few seconds before she relaxed. "Yeah, it is. It used to be pretty famous- why, are you hungry?"

The expression on Kaminari's face (coupled with a few suspicious, splitting stomach rumbles) did the answering for her as she couldn't help but chuckle softly at that as she fidgeted around with a stray marble in her pocket. It was somewhat on an impulse did she walk over to the stall, bringing out her new earnings from a small commission from just last week and eyeing the tantalising-looking pieces of fried chicken thoughtfully.

Coming back with a bag containing a few sticks of chicken karaage and a lighter wallet, she averted her eyes and passed the bag around, clearing her throat awkwardly.

"The Sports Festival is coming up, so it's actually pretty bad to be eating this- so just one stick a person, okay?" Morie murmured, almost feeling embarrassed by herself.

(Oh, how she felt like a nagging mom in that moment.)

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou- "

The sparkling eyes of the group made her heart melt and she looked off to the side, casually waving off their shiny, emotional expressions.

(What, were they tearing up?

... well, food did tend to be extremely emotion-inducing.)

"Don't worry about it." She emphasised, before silently thinking about what a shitty friend she would be if she had just dumped them at the station without having them enjoying themselves a little- she _did_ feel responsible for them since they were in her home district.

Kirishima looked predictably about the cry from happiness- and no, she was _not_ exaggerating. Morie could nearly hear him talking about how ' _eating meat was the embodiment of being a true man!_ ' or something along those lines, perhaps.

"Rie-san, you're not having any?" He asked between mouthfuls of steaming hot karaage- somehow the sight of her classmates stuffing their mouths ravenously were adorable to her. She shook her head at the question, easily playing it off.

"Nah, I'm not that hungry." (Thank goodness her stomach didn't grumble then.) "And it's bad for my quirk, anyway, so I don't think I'll risk it."

She conveniently didn't mention that she couldn't have gotten one more even if she wanted to, because the art supplies had effectively put a dent into her wallet and she definitely could not spend more for the day if she wanted to have some spare money in her pocket at all.

Kirishima didn't question her, only muttering another 'thank you' as he bit down and munched on another piece of karaage happily.

"Woah."

Kaminari spoke up suddenly in between mouthfuls of chicken, yellow eyes trained on something in the direction of the train station. He blinked a few times, as if disbelieving something, before his mouth fell open.

"Isn't that Bakugou? What's he doing here?"

(And alas, it was.)

At that mention, she looked up, taking in the sight of a slouched figure with ash-blond hair and earphones right away. He was walking away from the station, away from them, but it was undeniably him.

"Oh, it is!" Kirishima straightened up, a grin curling into his lips almost instantaneously. A split second was all it took to realise what Kirishima meant to do, and Morie sputtered in her attempt to stop him.

"Wait, h-hold on a mo- "

But it was too late.

"- OI, BLASTY!"

For a moment, Morie prayed to any gods who were listening that Bakugou would not be able to hear him over the music in his earphones, presumably something loud and angry, just like him.

(She wasn't so lucky, however.)

Remember how she mentioned earlier that Kirishima's sincerity could penetrate anything? Because apparently, not only could it break through to Bakugou's cold, cold heart, but it could also break through the loud blare of music in earphones.

Promptly, Bakugou stopped in his footsteps and he turned around, a disgruntled look fresh on his features.

He squinted in their direction, red eyes narrowed, and she could swear that she nearly choked when her eyes met his for the most fleeting of moments- and the whole of yesterday's events came flooding back into her mind with perfect, HD-worthy quality, igniting a burning sensation from her cheeks which definitely did not come from Mina's relentless face-mushing.

Quirk training. Flying. Falling. Crashing. Breaking a leg (quite literally). Bakugou, being angry; or more specifically 'who the fuck do you think you are?' Bakugou. Fainting. Waking up to Recovery Girl who told her off and commented about somebody who was pissed off.

... ah.

"What are you doing here, man? Weren't you still at school?"

Kirishima stated incredulously, eyes brimming with undisguised curiosity.

"What, can't I go home?" Bakugou scrunched up his face at that, mild irritation flickering over his features.

"But isn't this where Morie-chan stays?"

Mina stated in confusion, and Morie sighed, running a hair through her short locks of hair as her eyes periodically darted over to Bakugou and away from him. She ended up muttering ' _same neighbourhood_ ,' in response, leaving out the fact that he lived next door, deciding that Mina would probably take the news the wrong way a.k.a comparing it to a shoujo manga trope.

Kirishima had now taken to going over to talking to him, accompanied by Sero, and Morie didn't share the same enthusiasm. Heck, there was no way in hell she was going to go talk to him right after he nearly bit her head off for offering help, of all things!

Eyes still fixed on her irritable neighbour, she let out a weary sigh. Bakugou Katsuki was a troublesome guy- one who seemed to pop up everywhere she went.

It was then did Recovery Girl's words flash across her mind, and a(nother) revelation chose that moment to hit her like a sack of heavy bricks.

 _... wait a minute._

 _Don't tell me he was the one who brought me to Recovery Girl?_

* * *

.

rie: Omg

rie: Ren

BAEREN: sup

rie: Please save me.

BAEREN: um

BAEREN: is it the spiky dude ;;

rie: I guess?

BAEREN: ah

BAEREN: i knew it

BAEREN: so.

BAEREN: what did he do this time?

.

* * *

 **A/N :**

 ***Chicken karaage- a type of Japanese fried chicken.**

 **So I experimented with this chapter with a new, less draggy writing style and I hope it's easier to read.**

 **Also, awkward Morie is awkward. Angry Bakugou is angry. You get the gist.**

 **You guys have been really supportive and I'm really grateful for that, so thank you :3**

 **Reviews are very much welcomed!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Time to Begin

* * *

One unread message from BAEREN:

.

 _BAEREN : omg the yuuei sports festival is tomorrow right? i'll be watching from home, okay?_

 _BAEREN : __do your best!_

 _._

Ren's message made her stomach lurch a little at the reminder that the Sports Festival-slash-competition was currently less than twenty four hours away.

Morie stared at the artwork which had been sitting at her desk for more than two weeks now, before she slumped backwards in her chair with a sigh. She had contemplated the idea of working on the commission some more as an outlet for her to relax, but that was the thing- she couldn't get herself to relax at all. The reality that the Sports Festival was just a nap away had just sank in, and boy, did it hit her _hard._

A piece of measuring tape was put up on the wall of her room as Morie reached out a hand, imagining that she was grabbing at air as far away as possible. Then she visualised the pressure of the air at the end of the room increasing and she smiled at the resulting breeze that rushed over her subsequently, eyeing the measuring tape as she did so.

If she was estimating correctly, she had managed to increase her range from about five metres to five-point-six, which did not seem like much but was progress in itself. She had been using so much of her quirk lately that she was able to use it longer, and she had discovered a little trick to help her get over her migraines- if she massaged the pressure points on her head and gave it a few minutes, her blood flow would mostly return back to normal.

(Keyword: _mostly_. Sometimes it failed to work.)

Fiddling with some of the marbles on her table, she spun them around her fingers, repeating the process for each hand. Then she tried spinning the marbles around her body in general. She had been intently working on training herself for the past few weeks- but the question was: was it enough?

 _I wonder if my shitty cousin is going to be watching,_ she thought suddenly and out of habit, grumbling at the thought as she thought of what he would say. There was no doubt that he would say something like _'have some enthusiasm, cousin!'_ while casually crippling her by punching her back.

Deciding that she couldn't keep still any longer, Morie pushed out of her chair and changed her clothes, stuffing her phone and her earphones in her pocket as she shuffled downstairs. _'Mom's busy,'_ came the glum thought as she noticed the absence of the said woman, before a familiar feeling of worry seeped into her veins.

Her mother usually made it a point to not let her work intrude upon her family time, but from past experience she knew that it was pointless to worry about Minamoto Fū when it was so much more easy to just work away her worries.

"Dad," she called out. Her father was currently in the kitchen, and she dared not step into the cramped space due to the sheer number of utterly hazardous objects floating around like a floating minefield; cooking and telekinesis hardly mixed well together and the only good outcome was her dad's food. "I'm going for a run."

"Be back for dinner," he responded. "And don't push yourself too much- the festival's tomorrow."

"Yes, dad," she replied, with the placating tone all teenagers used to reassure their over-protective parents. Then Chika peered out of the kitchen and sent her a frown- and then came the ever-familiar sensation of him probing into her mind.

"Shields up!" He mock-scolded when he was met with no resistance. Obliging, she allowed her mental shields to form, feeling a sense of detachment settle over and within her as she did so. "Remember, you can never be too careful, Mori."

Flashing him a thumbs-up, Morie slipped on her sports shoes, shutting her house gate before she stepped out of the house. She did her warm-ups and hastily stuffed an earbud into her ear, before taking in a deep, relaxing breath.

 _Five rounds around the neighbourhood, then. Let's go._

Just as she was about to set off, she heard the neighboring gate slam close and inwardly she thought, _'Must be Masaru-san, feeding a stray... Was he always one to slam the door?'_

(That was until she turned around, of course.)

When her eyes took in the sight of someone who was none other than the great Bakugou Katsuki, her eyes widened by a fraction.

The boy with ash blonde hair had taken to joining them for lunch on some days, though he was still alone for the most part. They never did bring up what happened the day Morie crashed into the clearing (and the fact that he actually brought her to the infirmary like a decent person- she still hadn't thanked him for that like a normal person.) Once she got over her initial doubts and did some reflecting on the situation, she did feel somewhat more at ease around him ever since then- it was as if she was subconsciously assured by the fact that there was more to Bakugou than his explosive temper. He was intimidating but interesting, and she was no closer to figuring him out than she had been at day one.

"... Hey." She said, raising her hand as she met his red-eyed gaze, feeling awkward beyond words. He squinted at her for a few moments, red eyes boring into her own dark ones before he made to shove past her, hands stuck in his pockets as he did so.

"Out of the way."

... the rude little shit.

Morie waited for a few moments for his figure to disappear from sight before she broke off into a jog. Sometimes, it was hard to comprehend how such coincidences just happened, though granted, they were neighbours, perhaps the close proximity made it more possible for them to have bumped into each other before.

Heck, now that she thought of it, she probably had already met him once or twice on the streets somewhere before, but she only started to notice him after that incident with the notebook. If anything, the only connection they had as neighbours was possibly Masaru-san from next door (cough, more than likely Bakugou's father) and the fact that she could recognise his explosion noises anywhere from how often they kept her up at night.

It was a fairly strange notion, though she was fairly certain that such coincidences wouldn't be happening again soon- she certainly hoped not, at least. The two of them were certainly not friends, but they weren't enemies, per say, and personally Morie didn't hate him. (Then again, did she even hate anybody?) But that meant that as a result, meetings between them were often painfully awkward.

 _Tomorrow's the festival,_ her mind piped up. _Shouldn't you be focusing on that?_

At that reminder, she shook the thoughts of the spiky-haired boy away from her mind. Brushing one of her bangs away from her eyes, she settled into a steady pace.

It was safe to say that she had forgotten about the awkward and accidental meeting with Bakugou Katsuki.

(That is, until she bumped into him once again when she had run to get on the train the very next day, and it turned out that they had gotten on the same carriage. The ride was painfully uncomfortable, or at least for Morie, as she spent most of the time avoiding eye contact with him by using her phone and internally cursing the world.)

.

* * *

Currently, she was wincing at the loud cheers.

At the sight of infamous Class A making their appearance at the stadium, the crowd went positively _wild_. The hype was due to the fact that they had been the victims of the Villain attack and they had garnered a considerable amount of supporters after it turned out that all of them made it through alive and mostly uninjured.

Unconsciously, she reached up and brushed against the back of her short brown hair at that reminder. All the noise was making her head explode, and the attention was nearly embarrassing.

Kirishima, on the other hand was basking in the attention appreciatively, staring up at the crowds with a look of awe on his face, and he turned towards her with a grin. "Rie-san! Aren't you feeling pumped up?"

Morie scrunched up her face at that, not exactly sure of how she was feeling at the moment. Pumped up? Sure- if that was synonymous with getting a strong urge to puke.

"I guess so," she ended up replying. Her eyes began wander about the stadium, and her mouth fell open as she gaped, eyes taking in the proctor for this year's Sports Festival.

" _HolyshitisthatMidnight_ \- " Morie's eyes widened as pink dusted over her cheeks. "It's her! I can't believe it- "

' _You would think that you would have gotten used to seeing heroes by now,_ ' her mind remarked dryly, and in response she told herself to shut up.

Kirishima was about to reach over to pat her on the shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, until he caught sight of the Hero himself. Instantaneously, his entire face flushed red as he gawked at Midnight, who was currently donned in her revealing Hero costume (and that in itself was an understatement).

"H-h-her hero costume!" The boy sputtered, now literally glowing red as his eyes widened outrageously. Morie, who had now gotten over her moment of fangirling, eyed him with a bemused expression.

"Like what you see, Kiri?" She whispered into his ear, cackling as he practically jerked backwards in shock, arms flailing in denial.

It was an adorable sight that he was so embarrassed by Midnight's costume (which didn't leave much room for imagination) rather than say, _nosebleed_ (she glanced pointedly at Kaminari and Mineta).

"Rie-san!" He protested after getting over his initial shock. Morie only grinned and sent him a teasing wink, which made him even more embarrassed.

(Boy, was his innocence was refreshing.)

The mood quickly sobered up, however, as Midnight revealed what the first task would be some time later.

"The first item will be a obstacle race around the stadium! Competitors, get ready!"

With a loud yell into microphone, Present Mic's voice blaring all across the stadium, there was a small wave of confusion which spread through the competitors. Her eyes widened as she realised what they were supposed to do.

Grabbing Kirishima, she ran towards the nearest exit, where crowds of competitors were already beginning to gather. Unashamedly, she darted forward, her small size coming in useful in slipping through cracks of people. Then she was running, a small, unrecognisable feeling burning within her just as she caught sight of a familiar boy with red and white hair way ahead of them.

 _'He wouldn't-'_ she gaped in comprehension, watching as he was about to bring his leg down on the floor, and as if in slow-motion, frost began to spread from the point of contact at an alarming rate.

' _Oh, of course he would_.'

Her mind sighed in exasperation and the dark-haired girl resisted the urge to throw up her arms and comment snidely that she ' _called it!_ '. Todoroki had grown predictable in his lack of hesitance to use his (possibly overpowered) quirk, and with that thought Morie tore her gaze from him and focused on getting free.

She broke through the frost which covered her shoes with by increasing the pressure around her feet, before she took a step forward and stumbled on the slippery ground.

"Damn you, Todoroki," she grumbled, before wondering how she could conserve the use of her quirk as she stared at the frozen path in front of her. Then she decreased the pressure on one foot, before balancing on her other, kicking off so that she was sliding across the ice like a wannabe iceskater.

(She stumbled as she hit solid land- so much for doing this with style.)

Then, as she eyed Todoroki, an idea came to her- as long as she kept tagging along behind him, his quirk could be prove to her advantage. After all, the air around his ice would be tantalisingly high in pressure, which would make things easier for her in the get-go. At most it would irritate him, but it seemed like he hardly gave a damn about her, anyway.

... Not to mention, hell if she was letting him of all people get ahead of her so easily. As someone who generally preferred to spend their time being as collected and rational as much as possible, she herself was surprised that Todoroki was able to rile her up like this. It was probably genetics- her mother couldn't stand Endeavour himself.

Then there was a loud rumbling noise, and an immense sense of déjà vu hit her sharply as she found herself slowing down at the next clearing- and instinctively she made a face.

Robots. Not just any robots, but the robots from the entrance exam- and that was with the inclusion of the Arena Trap zero-pointer. She vaguely remembered being pursued and terrorised by these ugly and deadly hunks of metal.

Todoroki dealt with them easily, and for a moment she was at a lost as to what do as he seemingly froze the robots into place. One look told her that the ice wouldn't hold for very long and that it would crush whoever ran forward at that point- she bit her lip and forced herself to hold still, watching as Todoroki got further and further away. But as she turned around, she realised that Kirishima was nowhere to be seen.

 _That's right_ , a revelation crossed her mind suddenly. _This is a competition now, and we have to go through on our own merit. Kirishima will find a way through on his own._

Eyes looking around, Morie gripped her fists in concentration as she seeked out the area that was the most frozen, sensing the high pressure around the ice. Visualising high pressure on her legs and the soles of her feet, she sprung upwards and wind swirled around her as she landed on the top of the nearest robot.

"OUTTA MY WAY!" She nearly screamed as something nearly slammed into her.

Bakugou had jumped up at that exact instant, his hands sparking with explosions as he roared, furiously advancing forward. She ducked sideways, stumbling, before darting forwards away from the robot.

Present Mic's voice was booming over the loudspeaker. "If you can't go through, go over! A clever demonstration by Bakugou and Minamoto from Class A!"

The spiky-haired boy scowled from not getting all the glory, and with that she was much more highly motivated to run away as she darted away from him, jumping off the robot somewhat hesitantly as she navigated her way off the robot, before continuing to dash forward.

Momentarily, Morie considered speeding up herself with her quirk, but decided against it. _She shouldn't use her quirk unless absolutely necessary_ , she reasoned- though that wasn't much of a plan, considering that she was pretty much useless without her quirk.

The path was scarce of competitors now, but she dared not grow complacent less others overtook her current position. She had arrived at an area full of pits and chasms, with only flimsy ropes allowing them to pass through.

She held her breath.

Morie regarded the setup. She could plainly just go through this the normal way by crawling over to the other side, but who was to say that no one would try to sabotage her? The moment she slipped up, she would be eliminated from the race for certain.

She had an idea- a risky one (when were her ideas safe, honestly?), but still her best bet.

Walking forward, she imagined doing what she did back in the battle trial- creating a 'wall' of pressure around an object to prevent contact. She did that on the rope, making use of the strong pressure from the height she was at, so that the air below the rope was pushing up against her feet.

 _I can't hold this high pressure for very long_ , she noted, before breaking off in a run towards the other side. _Better hurry._

"What is going on? Is young Minamoto even walking on the rope?" Present Mic near-shouted in the microphone. His voice cracked as he screamed, and she resisted the urge to giggle.

 _Stop announcing what I'm doing to the world,_ the girl silently grumbled afterwards, though she supposed that not many people would be able to tell that she was simply controlling the pressure around her. The way the man was talking, he made it seem like she was walking on air when she was just giving herself extra support from the rope so she could run as usual.

Getting back on steady ground came as a relief, and as she ran to the next obstacle, she suddenly froze.

Staring at the minefield before her, Morie wondered what she should do. She certainly did not trust her motor balance skills to be able to tiptoe through that whole field while dodging the mines, after all. Neither did she trust her eyes.

Experimentally, she tried to apply the same technique she used as just now to a mine near the starting point and winced- it seemed that the mines were a lot more sensitive than she thought- even the slightest pressure had caused a huge explosion. What was the best option for now?

Sighing in resignment, she hastened her pace as she walked forward, straining her eyes to make out the location of the mines as she moved onward step by step, hesitantly placing down each foot and each time expecting it to explode.

The arduous process was so slow, that much to her dismay, many competitors were beginning to catch up.

 _Hell no, I'm not losing to them,_ she scowled, feeling the competitive side of her roar out loud- after all, she made it this far on her own, right?

Suddenly, a burst of green shot past her as she recognised a figure with curly hair surfing over her while riding what looked to be a part of the robots that were destroyed earlier.

Was that _Midoriya_? The last she checked, he hadn't been able to control his quirk, much less fly!

In disbelief, she pondered how it was possible how the timid-looking boy had soared over without using his quirk- after all, his limbs looked to be very much unbroken and intact. Then the answer hit her in the face, making her feel incredibly stupid.

She slapped herself mentally.

 _I'll be such a laughing stock if this doesn't go well_ \- A voice protested within her and she shushed the voice immediately. If this went well, she would have no complaints, though she honestly didn't want to do this.

 _'Good luck, mate.'_ She lamented sardonically to herself as she increased the pressure around her feet and stomped down onto a mine in front of her. If all went well, she would be propelled into the air- if it didn't work, she hoped that what Present Mic said about the mines being more more flashy than likely-to-blow-off-your-limbs held true.

In a flash of scorching hot light, Morie was launched into the air, and she had to bite her mouth to keep from screaming. A memory of Bakugou flying by emitting explosions from his hands came into her mind as she shoved her hands backwards and forced the pressure around her hands to increase. The sudden difference in pressure created sent her surging forwards in the air, and she wondered how in the world the red-eyed boy managed to pull off the whole flying-with-his-hands thing so effortlessly.

 _He has the natural reflexes. You were raised to think through everything you do. Of course there's a difference._

As reckless as the idea was, it did admittedly help her cover distance fairly quickly. In the distance, she could make out Midoriya charging through the stadium doors, surrounded by Todoroki, and Bakugou respectively...

Rolling on the ground a little as she landed back on the ground, now thankfully clear of the mine field, she sprinted forward towards the exit, only to see a girl with long, thorn-like hair making her way through as well. Increasing her pace, she sprinted into the stadium- though at the same time as the girl with green, thorny hair.

"Ooo, looks like we have ourselves a draw! In fourth place, we have Minamoto Morie and Shiozaki Ibara from the Hero course!" Present Mic's commentary made her whip around to look at the green-haired girl, eyes widening at the familiarity of the name.

 _So this was the person I was tied with in the entrance exams?_ Morie thought, as a wave of astonishment shot through her. The girl, Shiozaki, evidently recognised her name as well- she turned around to meet her own gaze with dark eyes and a curious expression.

Startled, Morie turned away hastily, deep in thought as she hurried away towards the rest of the Class A students. Absent-mindedly she hummed, and wondered: what would a fight between them turn out like, she wondered?

.

 _Why did I turn down Kirishima's offer again?_

It was time for the second task, and she was stuck without a team.

Morie looked around, feeling slightly intimidated by the amount of groups that were already being formed. Kirishima had suggested that she ask Bakugou if she could join the group, and the exchange went something like this:

"Rie-san!" The red-haired boy had called out from across the field, waving her over. "We still need another person, want to join our team? With you, Sero and Bakugou, we'll be the manliest bunch ever!"

Upon glancing over and meeting the eyes of Bakugou himself and noting the way his eyes narrowed, she had denied the offer on impulse- thinking something along the lines of how Bakugou would be trying to kill Midoriya the whole time, especially since the curly-haired boy had clinched first place in the obstacle race.

Morie had darted away, feeling extremely guilty for denying Kirishima's offer, though she brightened up considerably as she caught sight of a familiar figure.

"Hey, Mashirao!" She called out, running towards him almost frantically in fear that he would be somehow swamped by other competitors in the few seconds before she reached him. "Would you like to form a team with me?"

"Ah, Minamoto-san. I don't mind," the tailed boy replied, his mild expression turning a tad bit surprised at the sudden invitation. Morie's smile widened at his reply and inwardly exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Awesome," she stated, before frowning as she picked out other potential group-mates from the crowd. "Now, is there anyone you would like to group wi- "

"Mashirao Ojiro and Minamoto Morie." Morie was broken off by a new voice which rang out from behind them- that voice was disturbingly familiar...

Turning around, she raised an eyebrow as she took in the sight of a familiar blue-haired boy standing metres behind them, eyeing them with his shadowed eyes.

Mashirao frowned at the sight of him. "Hey, aren't you the one who challenged us from Class E?"

"Yeah, he is. What's up, Shinsou?" Morie responded absently, eyes watching as Mashirao's expression suddenly grew blank before she was abruptly made aware of ... _something_ in her mind. It came in the form of a whisper which rushed through her brain, forcefully urging her mind to shut down- not to mention that it made her feel slightly foggy, in the least. But it simply stayed there, prodding at her mental shields before eventually dissipating into nothing a few seconds later.

"So that's your quirk," she spoke evenly, taking in the new confusion that flitted about his features. "Could you release Mashirao? Let's work out an agreement here."

A surge of gratitude surged through her for her prying father- for being a master of mental manipulation, for the mental training he put her through, and for reminding her to put up her mental defenses just that very morning. Who knew how this could have turned out otherwise?

Shinsou stared at her unblinkingly for a few moments, before a grin, dark and crooked came into sight. Then he looked up and she saw his eyes and took in how tired he looked. Maybe that was what drove her to say what she said then, as she shoved a hand towards him and shot him a grin.

(" _... hey, Shinsou. Why don't you join us?_ ")

.

At last, the agreement held true after all.

Team Shinsou, which consisted of herself, Mashirao, Aoyama, and Shinsou himself clinched third place in the Human Cavalry Battle, securing themselves a spot in the finals. All of them relatively unbrainwashed, that is.

Now that she thought of it, it was a miracle that they pulled through at all, what with Mashirao's and Shinsou's obvious distaste for each other- she couldn't count the number of times she had to coax them to be more in sync with each other. On the other hand, Aoyama was surprisingly easy to get along with- his navel laser proved to be useful in getting the opponents to maintain their distance.

However troublesome, Pressure proved to have been useful. If she increased the air pressure at certain points, she got them to run away faster, and by increasing the pressure around them as a whole it could act as a momentary form of defense. She didn't hold the high pressure for long, however- her teammates were much more unused to environments with high pressure; it would have been terrible if she gave them all migraines because of her quirk.

What was probably the most prominent factor to their success was Shinsou, himself, whose crooked demeanour hid a brilliant mind and an almost natural ability to lead and strategise.

The said team leader left them without further acknowledgement, and Morie watched on as his retreating back disappeared into the crowd in a matter of seconds. She was beginning to piece together his strange behaviour, and the rumours that she had heard about quirks unsuitable for heroics- though honestly all she felt for him was a brimming admiration.

With that said, she would really rather not shrug off his act of brainwashing herself and Mashirao as an act of desperation- but rather, the proof of his determination to get through to his finals. He had used them for his own gains, that was for sure, but Morie had let him.

... that was something she could live with.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 _[EDIT]: for anyone who's interested, I updated Kerosene Hearts (though it's short) and I also posted a new fic called Katsuki in Wonderland (which will probably turn out to be a KiriBaku fic.) Feel free to check it out!_

 _On another note, I updated five stories today including Selling Daylight. It'll probably be the last time I update in a while, but I'll be back, so don't worry. Thank you for being so patient with me!_

 _Moving on the original author's note:_

 **Here we have awkward interactions with Bakugou and more Shinsou.** **The Cavalry Battle is glossed over- it's up to your imagination how things went for Team Shinsou. I do want to reveal that Rie took down her mental shields during the Cavalry Battle, so that should tell you how it might have went.**

 **Sorry that this chapter was practically just Rie stumbling through the Festival (aka bullshitting). I try to limit canon scenes as much as possible so it doesn't bore you. I don't want to make it seem like she's powerful or anything, just because she does pretty well in the race- as I was writing this I realised that her quirk was well-suited for the events, and it would be out of character for her to not make full use of it. l also wanted to show her (tiny) improvement, not to mention it would be weird if I glossed over the whole Festival, so I hope you're cool with that.**

 **The part of her resisting Shinsou's quirk is actually sort of a theory about how mind-centred quirks work. No, she isn't immune to his quirk, but she does have Chika for a dad ;) I might cover my theory in later chapters on in Kerosene Hearts.**

 **Thoughts?**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: The Final Countdown

* * *

 _'I wonder what Mom and Dad would say to me now,_ ' Morie found herself wondering.

She (really really _really_ -) hoped that they were proud of her for being able to continue on, and vaguely she pictured her father cracking some lame joke ("Bet that was a _breeze_ for you, Mori!") while her mother was chuckling softly, fondly reaching out to ruffle her hair ("You can do it, kiddo.") Then they would proceed to scold her for whatever injuries she managed to obtain, but eventually sigh and let her go.

The thought fueled her with a newfound determination as her eyes found their way to the big screen. It was right before the match-ups for the final segment of the Sports Festival would be announced, and the air was fraught with unsaid tension. The grand screen suddenly lit up with a start, displaying the randomly-generated pairings for all to see:

.

 _Midoriya Izuku VS Hitoshi Shinsou_

 _Hanta Sero VS Todoroki Shouto_

 _Mashirao Ojiro VS Kaminari Denki_

 _Iida Tenya VS Hatsume Mei_

 _Yuuga Aoyama VS Mina Ashido_

 _Yaoyorozu Momo VS Fumikage Tokoyami_

 _Ejirou Kirishima VS Minamoto Morie_

 _Bakugou Katsuki VS Uraraka Ochako_

 _._

With a panic, Morie's eyes darted across the list of names, eyes landing on her own profile and immediately seeking out her opponent in the first round. Recognition dawned upon her as she turned her head to look over at her opponent with wide eyes.

Kirishima was looking back at her with a wide grin, looking absolutely pumped up. The dork flashed her a thumbs-up which she returned, smiling. With that said, she sincerely hoped he wasn't being excited over the chance to pummel her- maybe that would have been true if someone like Bakugou was her opponent, but Kirishima pure and a sweetheart.

At least there wouldn't be no hard feelings no matter the outcome- though she was worried that the crimson-haired boy would try to hold back on her.

Then a thought flickered through her mind: what about _that_ girl- would she have a chance to go up against her?

As she examined the list once more, Morie had to admit that she was greatly disappointed that Ibara Shiozaki, the girl with pretty dark eyes and thorns for hair, did not make it to the finals.

They had tied not once, but twice- the brown-haired girl was so curious about the girl who she had never met before today that for a moment she had convinced herself that they would meet in the finals. But alas, it wasn't like she was a main protagonist of an anime, or anything like that, because the way main protagonists worked, they normally fought against people who they had some sort of brief yet overwhelmingly significant interaction with beforehand- say, an awkward moment of eye contact, or a bump to the shoulder.

But alas, thanks to Shinsou's quirk, they had made it through to the finals, all four of them, and she now wondered how she would fair in a real one-versus-one battle. Briefly she toyed with the idea of going up against Todoroki- it would be a fight of honour, thought it would be an almost guaranteed loss on her part. Even if her quirk held an advantage to his, would she be good enough to fight him in a match?

She hardly wanted to imagine losing to him, and hearing the condescending words she dreaded (" _I told you, didn't I?_ ") There was also the fact that she wasn't even on Todoroki's radar right now- he went to go and challenge Midoriya, while barely acknowledging her. It was humiliating, sure, but it was a sign that he had taken her words seriously.

After all, she was the one who told him that she couldn't live up to her mother, and by his standards, it meant that she was not worth his attention. She was just a weakling who he could outshine with little effort- his self-proclaimed rival.

That was without mentioning the fact that if Morie wanted to fight him, she had to make it to the _finals_ just for the chance. Bullshit could only take you so far, and she doubted that she had the strength to make it to the finals anyway- her luck was bound to run out sooner or later, right?

It was not so much the fear of losing, but it was the fear of him being right about her, the fear of direct confrontation. If she were to be honest with herself, she was more terrified than she let on.

Morie had always been more of a talker than a fighter- she was always the one who made plans cut out for other people while she supported them from the shadows. To be thrust into the spotlight was scary, even though she was going to have to deal with this sooner or later. What if her mind blanked out, and her quirk couldn't work as a result? What if she lost concentration amidst all those tedious manipulation? What if she messed up and made a fool of herself? What if she let her parents down?

She mentally slapped herself just so the flow of depressing thoughts would just go away.

... what had she thought in that classroom when against Bakugou again? _Fake it till you make it_ , was that right?

If she acted like she was perfectly at ease, maybe she could calm herself down. It had worked nicely back then- maybe putting on appearances would make her more confident, more ready for this. Her blood pressure was plenty messed up because of her quirk- she certainly didn't need to throw in these conflicting feelings into the mix.

She wasn't strong enough, or at least at this point she was no match for Todoroki, so she shouldn't even _think_ about fighting him. So why did her eyes keep darting over to his direction?

.

"Minamoto-san!"

Morie had been hiding it out in the waiting rooms, and apparently she had been found.

Her reverie was broken as she looked up to find Yaoyorozu approaching her. Morie blanched at the sight of mortification evident in the black-haired girl's features as she held what looked to be a cheerleader outfit- a revealing one, that is.

"I'm afraid Aizawa-sensei has required the girls from Class A to take part in cheerleading," the vice-president stated, a small frown gracing her features. "I've taken the liberty of creating all the costumes, and as Class 1-A's vice-president, I humbly apologise for this late notice."

The logical part of her brain pointed out that the sardonic and unenthused homeroom teacher would hardly force them to do frivolous leisure activities during the Sports Festival of all times, though the black-haired girl seemed to be quite sure of herself as she made that announcement.

Wearing a suspicious, revealing cheerleader outfit was cool and all- but the thought of facing more people, however, made her turn green.

"Sorry, Yaoyorozu-san," the brown-haired girl apologised in turn, frowning a bit. "I'm feeling a bit under the weather- don't worry about Aizawa-sensei, I'll explain to him later."

The black-haired girl's features furrowed up in understanding. "It's fine. I do hope you feel better soon, Minamoto-san."

Yaoyorozu left hastily, leaving the other girl huddled up in her corner of the room, the vice-president's main concern was that her extra uniform would be wasted. As part of her quirk, each part of item wasted was wasted energy and resources on her part and that would be a shame.

"What should I do with this, then?"

She sighed, feeling troubled, though a voice, cheerful and feminine broke her train of thoughts abruptly.

"Ooo, Class A is cheerleading? Count me in!"

The voice cheered out, and Momo turned around to see what seemed to be a hovering set of clothes. From the lack of visible physical presence, she could only assume that the girl in question she was talking to was invisible.

"You wouldn't be Hagakure-san from Class B, would you?" Momo questioned, already moving to alter the top of the shirt so that it was a Class B shirt instead.

(She had often seen the girl making conversation with Mashirao in the eatery during lunch time, and knew for a fact that the invisible girl was friends with the class president of Class B, Itsuka Kendou.)

"Yeah, that's me! Thanks a bunch, vice-prez!" The other girl cheered in agreement and pumped her fists excitedly at the fact that she knew her name.

Momo decided that she liked this cheerful, bubbly, and invisible girl immensely. Without further delay, both of them then quickly set out to join the other cheerleaders outside in the arena, all decked out in their cheerleader outfits.

(They didn't know what they were getting into.)

.

Meanwhile, the girl huddled in her corner rolled about, short ends of her hair sticking up at the ends. She felt better now that the queasiness and side-effects of her quirk were gone, well enough, in fact, to eavesdrop on the snickering that was echoing down from behind the corner.

"All my dreams have come true... Yaoyorozu's hot bod in a cheerleader outfit! Seriously, Kaminari, this has to be the best plan ever!"

The voices echoed down the corridor, and the duo who were currently talking turned the corner to spot the seemingly-asleep brown-haired girl and their voices were immediately hushed. The irritatingly-squeaky voice and the other voice were familiar, and she strained her ears to listen in some more.

"It's Morie-chan! Dammit, Mineta! Why the heck isn't she in a cheerleader uniform?"

"Maybe Yaoyorozu hasn't found her yet," the short boy shrugged in response.

"A shame," the both of them sighed. "Well, not really. Isn't she sorta, y'know, guy-ish?"

Silence.

Then, "Did she always have such a nice ass?"

Out of their sight, pink crept up onto her cheeks at the lewd comment. Then came the fantasizing and the gushing over the Class A girls. A part of her wondered what the hell they saw in her, while the other part felt ticked off at the frankly disrespectful way they were talking about the girls. Seriously, did they apply to Yuuei to ogle at pretty girls or to become heroes?

Arm twitching in utter annoyance, she sat up and slowly turned around, horror movie style, sending the clueless duo a strained (albeit creepily cheerful) smile. They froze at the sight of her- and the realisation that no, she hadn't been asleep, and yes, she had heard _everything_.

"W-we can explain!" Mineta cried out, waving his tiny hands around as he sweated profusely.

Similarly, Kaminari stood next to him in a fashion similar to a deer caught in headlights- maybe some part of him knew that she would go harder on him since they were supposedly friends.

"Y-Yeah, please hear us out, Morie-chan!" His voice rang out as he chuckled nervously.

"You'd better," she muttered under her breath darkly, wondering if they even had a justifiable reason other than the fact that they were both perverts. "Explain what you did, that is. Make it quick."

Both of them shivered.

Needless to say, there was no cheerleading competition. Morie was saying this on her own behalf and Yaoyorozu's because the vice-president was way too polite: it was pretty much official- Kaminari and Mineta were scumbags. She didn't tell them that to their faces, though, much to her own surprise- she didn't have the heart to.

"At this point," she stated flatly, not even knowing why she still bothered. "I don't know if you're a danger to us, or to yourselves."

A pause. Then exasperation flashed over her dark eyes appraisingly.

"... at least have the audacity to look ashamed, you little shits."

.

After the incident with the cheerleader outfits, the battles finally begun, and with bated breath she sat at the stands, watching as the matches went by as she made mental notes on who won and how.

Shinsou and Midoriya had an interesting match indeed- the blue-haired boy was clearly doing a lot of talking, though she couldn't hear anything they said. Midoriya seemed to have gotten caught in Shinsou's quirk at some point, but had managed to break out of it.

(Somehow, she felt like a proud mom- not that she held anything against Shinsou, of course. It had been hard inwardly rooting for the both of them.)

At the second match, she winced at how utterly relentless Todoroki was- poor Sero stood no chance at all as he ended up unconscious _and_ out of bounds in less than a minute. The guy literally stood no chance at all. Ironically, ' _Todoroki needs to chill_ ' was her entire impression of the match, and with no pun intended.

Morie did straighten up at the match-up that was Mashirao versus Kaminari, however. Kaminari may be a lunch and train buddy, but she was personally fond of the polite and good-natured boy with the tail quirk- he had gotten her out of a pinch many timed, and she secretly hoped that Mashirao would kick his ass for the stunt he pulled earlier.

And so he did. Kaminari didn't stand a chance the moment the battle turned close-ranged and his own quirk fried his brain. He hadn't even attempted to aim where his quirk was discharged, resulting in an attack that was spread out and weak. At the sight of his infamous 'idiot' mode, and with a look of conflicted pity, Mashirao decked him across the face and knocked him out.

"MASHIRAO WINS THIS MATCH!" Present Mic screamed, causing Morie to question if he understood that microphones existed so that people did not have to scream their lungs out. Behind her, Jirou groaned, earphone jacks and all, was echoing her thoughts as she looked like she was seconds away from facepalming. "What was the idiot thinking, shocking himself stupid in the first minute?"

The match was evidently the type where you couldn't quite wrap your head around, as awkwardly Present Mic then called for the next match to begin immediately.

As her own match loomed closer by the minute, Morie got up and hastily left for the preparation rooms, willing herself to fight against her nerves.

Absentmindedly, she warmed up as she flexed her fingers, before she gave herself a crash course on her quirk. It sort of made her feel like she was cramming for a particular hard practical exam, and she rolled with it, if only to give her brain something to focus on.

 _('Increase pressure around you so that air flows away from you; if you're going to try flying take note of atmospheric pressure (please woman don't you dare fly out of bounds don't you even think about it); increase pressure around your limbs for stronger attacks; increase pressure of the air in the ground, but you have to sense the particles first; formation of pressure gradients should start at the limbs...')_

With all that cramming, it still felt like this match would be one of those tests where your mind got wiped clean in the first five minutes, leaving you feeling like shit for the rest of the duration.

Feeling somewhat frustrated at her disorganised train of thoughts, Morie settled for plopping down in a chair and massaging the pressure points at her head- exposure to high pressure often increased blood pressure, which was why she had migraines so often that she gave up on taking some Panadol painkillers each time. Instead, she had resorted reduced the side effects through pressure points, and while they offered at most temporary relief, it was better than nothing.

Behind her, the television blared with roars of applause, signalling the end of Mina and Yuuga's match. Her fingers found and wrenched at each other, though she forced her expression to mold into a calm one.

Alright.

She had to find something else to focus on- a goal, maybe? Mentally grasping about the confines of her head, she settled on the most short-term and immediate goal she had in mind- and that was to beat Kirishima.

It was at that moment did the door of Waiting Room A wrench open, and Morie jolted upwards as her eyes darted up - and widened- as dark red eyes met hers.

"Hey, Bakugou." She greeted out of habit softly, sending him an unsure smile.

There was silence for a few moments as he seemed to be annoyed at the fact that no, he would not be having the entire room to himself, along with the fact that _she_ was the one occupying it.

(Bakugou hated her- she was pretty certain of that fact.)

"The hell do you want," he bit back in response ill-naturedly, and Morie had no idea how to reply to him- what was with that response? She literally hadn't even said anything other than a 'hey!'

Bakugou then disgruntledly proceeded to hiss something along the lines of _'flowery bitch',_ and awkwardly she shifted around in her seat.

"Nothing," she replied, feeling utterly confused and unsure of how she should react. "Um, you know, just saying hi?"

 _'It's called a social norm, Bakugou, you might have heard of it before_ ,' her mind drawled sarcastically, and she was suddenly glad that she didn't have the habit of saying her thoughts out loud. If that were the case, she imagined that she would have fucked herself over by a thousand times, with the cause of death each time being 'Death by Bakugou'. At her funeral, the dude himself would show up, only to say something like 'Rest in fucking pieces, dipshit!'

... ah, how exciting.

The spiky-haired boy in question was now sending her an unimpressed look, eyeing her with those red eyes of his. Morie didn't even bother wondering what he was thinking- it wasn't the first time he had questioned her intelligence, anyway. She ended up staring (glaring) back at him.

A few seconds of silence passed before he finally replied.

"Whatever," he muttered. "Shut up and leave me alone."

With those words, Bakugou promptly turned away from her as he began to warm himself up for his match. She regarded him for a few moments before turning back to the television.

 _He seems to tell me that a lot_. Morie thought, feeling just a tad bit amused. _I'm not even stalking him or anything, not to mention that I don't even talk to him that much._

Glancing up, she ran her fingers through her short hair as with a panic, she realised that the match between Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami was fast approaching its end, and that it was time for her to leave for standby. Getting up, she reached out for the doorknob and was already halfway out the door when Bakugou's voice rang out once more.

"Stop."

At the sound of his voice, she froze, momentarily wondering if she was hallucinating. No way that the great Bakugou Katsuki was voluntarily starting a conversation, right? Especially not after he told her to 'shut up' himself. The only logical explanation was that she had finally lost it and was hearing things.

... yeah, that had to be it. Hah, the stress was driving her crazy.

"I said _stop_ , dipshit."

He was growing impatient now, and she turned around to glance at him with wide eyes and a look of extreme disbelief.

(This was new.)

She looked at the spiky-haired boy expectantly, her curiosity growing with each passing second before she finally acknowledged him. "What is it?"

"You're the one who went up against that half and half bastard, right?" The male grinned, though it was not friendly in the slightest- not with those bared teeth of his and the knowing glint in his eyes. "I want to pulverise you in the next match."

The door fell close in her moment of shock, and a tingle ran down her spine as she began to walk off to the arena after a few moments of stunned staring, her footsteps echoing in the corridor.

.

Bakugou Katsuki, she gathered, was straightforward and simple-minded, both in his mind and his pursuits.

What she couldn't wrap her mind around was this: what exactly did she do to bring upon this single-minded focus onto herself? Her team hadn't even won the battle trial against Todoroki and Shouji- hell, maybe he still secretly hated her for the Classroom Incident, and was looking for a reason to get her back. Or maybe he just wanted to beat her up. Plain and simple.

At this point, mixed emotions were running through her- the most predominent ones she picked out were fear and confusion, which were the instincts which made her tempted to throw her match to avoid Bakugou at all (which won't happen, because she wasn't such a scumbag yet and heck, she wasn't going to win against Kirishima with half-assed effort. She respected the guy too much for that.)

Strangely, there was another feeling that Morie was having some difficulty identifying, though she quickly placed it when she realised that the tiniest of smiles had crept up onto her features.

 _Seriously? I actually want to fight him? Even though I'll probably lose?_

 _'Of course_ ,' something in her mind responded in a vague manner. ' _You find him interesting, so isn't that obvious?_ '

With that somewhat shocking revelation, she stopped at the side-entrance, vaguely making out Present Mic's commentary over the ensuing uproar.

"Sweet and full of spirit, this lady from the hero course is Minamoto Morie!"

The smile remained on her face throughout as she walked out onto the arena, stepping forward as an eerie calm descended upon her. Strangely, there were no feelings of discomfort this time- all she saw in the crowds were the blank, featureless faces of strangers, and all she felt was a burning desire to prove herself. She tuned out the noise, focusing herself on the particles around her as she looked up to see Kirishima making his entrance in all his flaming red-haired glory, sporting a contagious grin in face of the crowd.

"He can turn himself harder than rock! From the hero course, this tough guy is Kirishima Ejirou!"

The crowds roared at his entry, as he notably seemed to be a favourite among the crowd. At Midnight's behest, both of them stepped on either sides of the arena, and Morie smiled, taking up a shaky breath.

"May the best man win, Kiri," she joked wryly. Kirishima cracked up a little at that. Then, eyes glimmering in determination, he slammed his fists together, letting out an excited yell as he did so- the very action causing the crowd to go wild.

"Hell yeah," he agreed. The anticipation rolled off him in contagious waves, and something within her was amused at how it was like they were having an exchange in class. "I'm not going to go easy, Rie-san."

That sentence alone sparked a bright grin from Morie, who whistled softly and settled into a fighting stance.

"I'm glad to hear that." She smiled, and rubbed her hands together, glancing up at the top stands where Present Mic and Aizawa-sensei were seated. The signal to start would come at any moment now, and already she could feel her fingers tingling in anticipation.

The seconds were ticking past in an achingly slow fashion, and the wordless tension was enough to send the her heart thumping.

Finally, Present Mic's voice blared throughout the stadium with a shout, and the second last battle of the preliminaries started quite literally, with a bang.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Woah, a fast update? Honestly this chapter is more for shits and giggles than anything, if I must say so myself.**

 **Bakugou declares war! Kirishima and Rie clash- who will win?**

 **Also, I made a Tumblr blog dedicated to my fanfics in general which means that I can now update you about the progress of Selling Daylight from there! My username is cyan-rubies so do give it a follow if you would like a way to keep updated (and get exclusive previews) while I'm missing in action:')** **I'll also be putting the link in my profile, so feel free to check it out!**

 **Thanks for reading, and do tell me what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: (Why You Got to Go and Make Things So) Complicated

* * *

The battle was long and hard. No pun was intended, of course, but things just happened the way they did. The signal started and the battle began at last.

Charging forward with a roar, Kirishima's face morphed into one of utter concentration as she tensed up and prepared to fight back.

Kirishima was a tough opponent, in every sense of the word. Morie had been aware that there was no way she could beat him in a fight in terms of pure combat ability- his own strength was already strong, though when combined with his quirk he was a monster to go up against with.

(In terms of his strength, of course. There was no way the enthusiastic red-haired could ever qualify to be a monster, not when his presence alone brought up the spirits of the class.)

Her plan was something she wasn't proud of- she had witnessed firsthand when his quirk nearly failed to function in the entrance exam. It was probably one of the most useful quirks around, like all quirks, Hardening had its own drawback- if used continuously and put under constant pressure, it couldn't hold.

One way or another, she was planning to strike when he was the weakest, and aim to knock him out- or at least send him out of bounds.

Kirishima was obviously aware of this limitation, and had come at her immediately, with the intention to win the match as swiftly as possible, before she had a chance to strike at his weaknesses. He fought with relentless swipes, which she dodged and struck back accordingly, increasing the pressure behind her blows. At one point, he managed to break past the pressure barrier that she had put up around herself, leaving a gash across her shoulder.

Hissing at the pain, Morie instinctively jumped back, hand grabbing at her injured arm. Kirishima's arms reared backwards into a ready position as the both of them panted, and it was at this moment that she was especially careful not to let her eyes drop below eye-level.

"Sorry about that!" He called out from across the battle field, rubbing off some dirt from his face with his sleeve. Grinning, she shrugged it off and sent him a thumbs-up.

Swallowing her hands lowered and brushed the ground almost insignificantly, as if she were brushing off a stray insect. But then as she picked up a dull humming in the particles below her, she straightened back up and ran towards him, and for a moment her classmates in the stand stilled- surely, this was the end?

As Kirishima raised his arms to block the oncoming blow, the girl suddenly skidded to a stop mere centimetres before him, bringing up her foot and stomping it on the ground at his feet. Almost instantly, the concrete below his feet exploded with a cloud of dust, blasting the boy backwards, and Morie's eyes widened as she saw the chance and closed in, swirling and kicking him backwards.

Instinctively, Kirishima brought his hands up in a block. The dust cleared, and for a moment her heart sank as he noted that he was still very much standing, with his face and limbs now hardened as a result. Yet as he moved to take a step forward, Midnight's voice rang out with a startling clarity.

"Kirishima Ejirou is out of bounds. Therefore, this match goes to Minamoto Morie!" She announced.

Morie couldn't believe it- wasn't the red-haired boy still very much in the battle field?

Straining her eyes, she was momentarily stunned at the sight of Kirishima's foot barely over the line, though as she dropped the pressure around her in a daze, she felt a migraine tear its way through her mind almost immediately.

Her heart ached as guilt gnawed away at her insides at the sight of Kirishima, who looked mildly upset.

What had she done? She knew that she couldn't have won against him with raw power. In all honesty, Kirishima deserved someone who was strong and willing to fight him on the stage in which he did best- someone who would fight him honourably, and not someone like her who was hardly strong and snuck by with life hacks and sneaky moves. It was a strange feeling, and she knew it was stupid for her to be feeling that way when she was just doing what she did best, and her energetic buddy just happened to be her opponent.

But to be very honest? In a real battle, Kirishima would be the one standing in the end. Not her.

Heading over to the opposite side of the arena, she felt a feeling reminiscent to that of shame as she suddenly found herself unable to meet his eyes.

 _A fluke. I won because of a fluke._

"Sorry, Kiri," she mumbled. "Surprise attacks aren't all that manly, aren't they?"

"Yeah," he clapped her over the shoulder, causing her to jump up briefly as a small smile crossed his features. "But being determined to win is."

Morie blinked up at him owlishly, almost feeling perplexed at his unwavering optimism. He caught her eye and grinned, looking so incredibly proud of her that she briefly wondered if this was what having an older sibling felt like.

"C'mon, Rie-san! Let's go get you patched up!" The red-haired boy exclaimed, positively dragging her out of the arena

 _Seriously, what the hell did I do to deserve to have this guy as a friend again?_

"I don't deserve you," she muttered under her breath lowly.

.

Morie refused to go to Recovery Girl, (she didn't want to sacrifice her stamina just for a small scratch) instead just bandaging up the wound with the hope that she wouldn't bleed out before her next match.

Clambering to the seat next to Kirishima in the stands, she watched the currently ongoing match with wide, horrified eyes.

Uraraka- the utterly sweet, adorable, and strong-willed gravity manipulator was getting absolutely _crushed_. She had been struck down countless times, and had pushed herself back up even more times- or at least until the final blow. Even with her ultimate attack, Bakugou had brushed off her meteor shower without batting an eye.

The match ended on a solemn note as the bright-eyed girl (" _Angelface_ ," Bakugou had called her) struggled and quivered to get up in desperation. Alas, her arms gave out from underneath her and she collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness. And just like that, the end of the match ended, with the stadium sitting in unsure, conflicted silence.

Bakugou walked out of the arena without another word. Morie clapped once, twice, then ducked her head under the stares of those around her, her hands falling motionlessly to her sides. Instead, her dark eyes focused on the sight of the beaten-up and unconscious Uraraka being carried out on a stretcher. Her hesrt tighened.

A sense of dread pooled within her stomach as fleetingly, Bakugou's red eyes flickered towards the stands- and she was reminded of the fact that _she_ was the one who would have to fight him next.

Watching Todoroki's match with Midoriya was an eye opener, though as Morie recalled his demeaning words from before, she swallowed the bitter feeling in her mouth. Clearly, some sort of heated discussion had occured between them- but Midoriya ended up being out-of-bounds, in any case. The curly-haired boy had been blasted against the arena wall, rendered unconscious from the impact. Morie winced at the sight of his bruised, broken and useless arms.

Some may have thought the match anticlimatic- but to her it had been intense and close. After all, Midoriya ended up being the one to force Todoroki into unleashing his true power. She wasn't fond of fire and never was, but somehow the sight of flames spilling forth almost rampantly from Todoroki's left side was almost awe-inspiring.

(Though admittedly, that was something she would never admit out loud.)

With the ending of one match meant that her own was getting closer and closer. Sighing, Morie stood up to seek refuge in the waiting rooms- but not before bumping fists with Kirishima, who stopped her as he wished her all the best, looking empathetic at her gloominess.

"Good luck, man," he stated sympathetically. "Against Blasty, you're gonna need it- though I'm not gonna take sides, of course. Go for it!"

"Thanks, Kiri." Morie replied, laughing as Kirishima messed up her hair with an enthusiastic vigour. Heading off down the stairs, she fell back into silent contemplation.

' _One match nearer'_ , she sighed, as a small panic seemed to grow from the root that was her heart. Almost desperately, she scrounged her mind as she tried to recall details of Bakugou's fighting style, or his quirk, or anything noteworthy in general. Nothing really came up.

(Distinctly, she recalled a few details, though it is barely enough- he apparently liked to swing his right fist first, he could make explosions by secreting sweat, his natural combative instincts were great, he was a prodigy, his style resembled that of out-boxing...)

Basically, she was pretty much screwed.

' _Rest in peace, bro._ ' A voice sighed, causing her to be mildly ticked off at herself.

' _Shuddap._ _You said that last time, too.'_ Morie grumbled, dragging herself into the waiting room as she began to pace around. The anxious feelings weren't ebbing away like they usually did, if anything, they seemed to be growing heavier.

For some reason, another memory hovered up to mind, that of the blonde-haired boy standing on the podium in the arena a mere few hours ago.

Morie distinctly remembered being surprised that of all people, _Bakugou Katsuki_ had been the student representative. She remembered the way he had stood clearly- slouched but not lazy, hands tucked into pockets, eyes regarding his audience with a calm, cool gaze which sent shivers down her spine. That kind of focus was admirable, put it simply.

"I pledge that I'll be number one," he had proclaimed- but at the same time, she wasn't sure if 'proclaimed' would be the right word.

At the point in time, it hadn't felt like a proclamation at all- what with the morose way he had said it. It was a announcement, but yet it wasn't exactly a challenge- defiantly he stood out, without caring about negative sentiments of any sort; but that wasn't it. Something within her wondered if he was backing himself into a corner on purpose, making himself a target of all the resentment and negativity- to prove that he could win even with those glaring targets on his back.

Somehow, he was different than how she imagined him to be after exchanging spitfire with him in an Oridera Junior High classroom. Whether or not he had changed, he certainly didn't feel like a schoolyard bully anymore.

Morie vaguely remembered a feeling of admiration bubbling up within her towards what she formerly thought was the most uninspiring person ever. It was a confusing feeling, considering that she was still somewhat terrified of the abrasive boy (who happened to be her bloody _neighbour_ ), but nonetheless, there was no denying the fact that she respected the boy a lot more than she cared to admit.

("Once you look up from someone, you can't overtake them," she distinctly remembered that quote from somewhere, and faintly she hoped that it wouldn't hold true for the upcoming match between the Boy Who Placed First and the One Who Lived Next To Him.)

She reassured herself (jokingly) with the thought that in terms of what she liked to dub 'background character qualities', she certainly had him beat. Heck, she might even decide to throw her superb bullshitting qualities into the mix!

As she took to walking around the hallways, Morie's footsteps came to a halt as she turned a corner- only to catch sight of a towering figure walking past. She took in the sight of flaming red flames and recognition dawned upon her.

Eyes widening, she instinctively took a step back.

The large, towering figure caught sight of her, nonetheless. Originally he didn't seem to have noticed her, but then something made him stop and examine her.

(' _Nonono_ \- ')

Morie stiffened, feeling thoroughly intimidated as she took in the man's jade green eyes- eyes the exact shade of Todoroki's.

(" _Please leave me alone I'm_ nothing _you don't see me-_ ")

"You- stop." Endeavour spoke, and out of politeness she obliged and turned to face him, a blank look on her expression. She prayed, hoped that he would miss the trembling of her fingers.

He was inspecting her now- as if she was somehow familiar to him. In turn, she was terrified he would see what Todoroki did and recognise her as the daughter of his rival.

"The children of established Pro Heroes-the ones who feel the most pressure, are often the ones who are the most desperate to win," Endeavour stated, eyes boring into hers, and she couldn't move a muscle, not even at that unintentional pun. "Tell me, who are your parents?"

Morie froze, her throat going dry at that question. The memory of Todoroki's accusation flashed across her mind and in that split second, she decided that telling Endeavour the names of her parents was a terrible idea. His damned voice was ringing in her head, as if it was a warning bell.

( _"You're the daughter of Coriolis, the Wind Hero aren't you?"_ )

Eyes flicking over to the towering man before her, she settled for a compromise.

"You're right, sir," Morie stated softly, allowing a shy smile to appear on her features- after all, it was better to give him an impression that she was meek at heart. Maybe he would see that she was a weakling and lose interest in her. "Dad doesn't work and Mom's a Hero, but I hope you may allow me to respect their privacy with regard to their identities."

With that said, there was no need for Endeavour to pursue the topic any further- unless he was suspicious, or already knew the answer.

And there was almost no doubt that he already knew, or was in the position to find out- he would have been able to find out her family surname from the matches alone.

(She didn't consider him above leaking the identities of their whole family to the press, or the news. So what if she was being ridiculously wary? She has a right to to protect her privacy.)

"I know all the heroes. Telling me wouldn't make a difference," he replied in response, his booming voice growing strained. It wouldn't take much longer before he lost his patience with her completely.

Morie swallowed- she had been afraid that he was going to say that.

 _Oh, but it would. I would become a target that you want Todoroki to defeat. I would be the way you crush my mother, by revealing me as her daughter; how you wreck the privacy she works so hard to protect._

She shifted around, lips remaining stubbornly pursed as she avoided the gaze of Endeavour.

Her match was going to start at any moment now. Should she just turn and bolt for it? Or maybe she should just-

\- at that very moment, a figure with dual-coloured hair shuffled into view, before coming to a stop at the sight before him. His strangely-coloured eyes narrowed as they took in the scene, before they shifted over to her.

Then she remembered something: Endeavour wasn't on good terms with his son.

As he met her gaze, Morie abandoned all of her dignity, sending him a silent pleading look ('please please _please_ get this man away from me') before her eyes slowly and deliberately shifted over to where Endeavour stood a few metres away.

Todoroki Shouto didn't miss the gesture. He remained impassive for a few moments, and for a few moments she wondered if he would just walk away from the scene out of spite- either towards her, or towards his father. But then his eyes flicked over to his father, and he opened his mouth.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, stepping forward as he did so. "My classmate needs to get to the arena now."

Endeavour's eyes narrowed, sending his son an impatient look. The orange flames that curled off his body flickered warningly, sending a lurch through her stomach as she realised how much it reminded her of the Conflagration Zone at the USJ. "Do not interfere, Shouto. I was asking the girl some questions."

"She doesn't have the time for that," Todoroki retorted curtly. Then his tone shifted as he addressed her, mismatched eyes boring into her own. "Go on to your match."

Nodding dumbly, Morie obliged as she turned and walked away towards the arena, barely able to stop herself from breaking out in a run as her fingers trembled.

That had been way too close for comfort.

But she couldn't relax yet- there was still the possibility that Todoroki could tell Endeavour the truth about her. Realistically speaking, Todoroki wasn't obliged to keep her secret at all, and he could very well find more use speaking of the truth to his father than protecting her identity.

Morie tugged and wrenched at her hands. As she neared the arena, she slowed down and let out a long sigh.

(Then of course, there was also the fact that her match with Bakugou Katsuki was less than five minutes away.

Cheers.)

.

* * *

 **A/N: And I'm back!**

 **I really dislike this chapter and the next, because I was originally planning for Morie to lose in the first round. Then I realised that it would cause my drafts for the later chapters to be unable to work at all, so I scrapped it.**

 **I really am sorry about the long wait, but exams are over and I'm now free to write! I really missed Morie and her shenanigans; not to mention that a big thank you goes out to all you supporters as I would have definitely lost the motivation to continue if not for your kind words.**

 **Follow my tumblr account: cyan-rubies to stay updated about the progress of my various OC fics! (including Selling Daylight) ****And with the overwhelming number of Kirie shippers, (is that a proper ship name?) I feel obliged to disclose that I have considered making them a couple before, though I now view them more of best bros.**

 **Thank you for reading, and the next update will hopefully come soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: (Dis)illusions

* * *

Stepping out onto the arena, Morie could've sworn that the ear-piercing cheers had only increased in intensity from the last time she stepped out into the arena- though plainly she could see why the crowd was so excited. The Bakugou Katsuki was up again, of course, and against this wimpy-looking girl (if they could even tell she was a girl) from the hero course.

 _Very exciting, indeed,_ a voice deadpanned.

She cast all thoughts of Endeavour and Todoroki to the back of her mind. Wringing her hands around each other, she absent-mindedly ran through the details of her plan in her mind, just as one would cram memorising notes right before the moment they step into the examination hall. All she asked was that she manage to get away with both of her hands spared- if she were to get wrecked, at least let her be able to continue drawing, right? She was fine with not winning, or being utterly destroyed- that was to be expected, after all.

Then Morie sighed once more, eyes squeezing closed, and inwardly slapped herself.

Who the hell was she kidding? She _wanted_ to win this- she wanted to beat this ridiculously talented kid before her, wanted to get a taste of a satisfying victory for once, one that she did not need to feel guilty over. She wanted to get through this match, and if she bumped into Todoroki along the way, it would be fucking fantastic.

(' _Isn't that an understatement? You really want to fight him._ ')

She was the daughter of Coriolis, the only woman in the top five ranked heroes, the one who was as mysterious and revered like some god in a myth, the one who saved others with gentle, affirming voice ans wielded the power of the winds. The very person who she knew to be Minamoto Fū, her mother, the same person who liked to ruffle her hair, loved her dad's cooking, and read the papers in the morning, like anybody else.

Coriolis was ordinary but extraordinary- the hero that Morie aspired to be like the most. And this whole tournament could be the first step she could go towards proving herself.

At that thought, her fingers tightened into fists, and she looked up, dark almond eyes brimming with resolve.

From across the arena, Bakugou Katsuki stared her down. It didn't take a genius to know to he wasn't trying to psych her out, and was only intently surveying his opponent.

What did he see, she wondered? Did he see a worthy opponent, or someone who was quivering with fear?

"Come at me, bitch." Slowly shifting into a fighting position, Bakugou's head jutted upwards defiantly as he uttered lowly. His head shifted, and she caught a glimpse of bared teeth and narrowed crimson eyes.

A corner of her lips twitched upwards, though she had no idea where the sudden impulse to smile came from. It was like her stress from before the match had been cast away as unneeded emotions before the beast that was before her. This certainly wasn't the time to be going mad, though.

"Alright then," came her light-hearted reply- the eerie sense of calmness surprised her deeply. She could've sworn that she saw a grin stretch over his face, even if just for a split second.

Then Bakugou lunged forward with a roar, and the not-smile was replaced with an intense ferocity.

Her plan unknowingly slid its way back into her mind. Immediately Morie hastily ducked over his swipe, but was not spared the resulting blast.

Wincing, fresh burns blistered over her arms as she was sent skidding backwards, though a part of her was glad that he had created the distance for her. What she did not expect, however, was for him to continue his launch of attacks, relentlessly leaping to where she stopped, his right arm already pulled back to deliver her a punch.

Morie rolled out of the way, a gasp escaping from her mouth, painfully aware that the boundary line was only metres behind her. A fresh panic seized her as understanding struck her in an instant: Bakugou had been led around by Uraraka in the previous match, and to prevent that, he made sure that he was now the one actively attacking- in other words, he was the one deciding the pace of this little game they were playing.

As smoke rose about the arena, she silently brought her hands close, cupping them slightly as she willed the pressure within them to grow and build. Some might think she was praying. If you went by technicalities, she sort of was.

With some luck, a powerful gust of wind would form, which could blow him back a few metres- hopefully putting distance between them. Running forward, she abruptly released the pressure, pulling apart her arms deliberately. As expected, air started swirling towards the blonde boy viciously, getting faster and faster as it approached-

But then Morie's eyes widened in horror as the spiky-haired boy simply spread his hands open, unleashing a series of explosions which caused the wind to die off unexpectedly, whirling into nothingness.

When exposed to the explosions, the pressure of the air around Bakugou increased. Heated air had high pressure, but was also unstable. A new understanding hit her akin to the force of a sack of bricks to her gut.

 _He knew_.

And just like that, her plan- which had heavily revolved around the use of her quirk, had fallen apart- or it had quite literally, been blown up in her face.

Predictably, Bakugou was showing her no mercy. A hand whipped past her head as she barely dodged in time, sparking with small explosion noises that she recognised immediately. Cursing at herself for being caught off guard, she rolled over sideways. Bakugou straightened up at this point, smoke curling off his fingers ominously.

"I got you figured out, dipshit," she watched the words leave his mouth like a promised death threat. "So what are you going to do about it?"

What _could_ she do about this?

That cowardly part of her screamed of self-preservation and that she give up immediately to spare herself the humiliation of continuing the one-sided match. As quickly as the thought came, it disappeared; surprisingly, her jaw subconsciously clenched in determination.

"I'm not giving up, if that's what you want me to do." Morie responded warily, dark eyes flickering up to meet his.

There was a strange grin on his face, and without a warning, the Explosion user was suddenly inches before her, blasting her away with his explosions. Effectively, he had turned this into a close-ranged fight, and she kept that in mind as she darted forward, bringing her fist back to punch him- though that attempt was similarly met with failure as she was blasted backwards almost immediately.

To an onlooker, it seemed that this was turning out like Uraraka's fight against Bakugou all over again. Yet this did not apply to Morie, however, as she bought herself more time, biting away the pain and heat from his explosions. There was always another way, after all, and she just refused to give up.

Then her solution struck her simply- a stroke of brilliance which she knew would guarantee nothing, but was still worth a try.

Pushing herself up from the ground, arms shaking from the strain, she charged towards Bakugou once more, a fuelled resolve inching its way into her features.

' _It's now or never_ ,' came her grim revelation.

.

 _けんか_

.

"Damn you, Bakugou! Do you swing the other way or something?!" Mineta cried out, looking like he was an inch away from tearing his hai- his grapes from his head.

Kaminari glanced behind to look at the boy, yellow eyes furrowed ashis features made his features known.

"That might really be the case," he agreed, sharing the horrified look on the purple boy's face. From the stands, the match didn't seem to be going well at all- he could make out Rie's small, boyish figure, but all he could see was that she could hardy even get close to the other boy. "I swear, that Bakugou's really something- of all people, he had to go up against two girls!"

Kirishima lightly hit him over the shoulder, as if berating the yellow-haired boy. "C'mon, you guys," he chastised, shaking his head. "Let's just root for the both of them!"

"I don't know, man," Sero remarked, black eyes fixed on the match. "It does look pretty one-sided."

The red-haired boy huffed, feelimg somewhat indignant. "She's still standing," he pointed out, red eyes darting to the arena where Rie stood. "That's something."

"Yeah. I guess." Kaminari agreed. There was silence for a while before a new voice spoke, and they glanced around to spot the mild-featured Mashirao, who was sitting with his tail curled around him, flicking thoughtfully.

"If you're talking about Minamoto-san," he spoke up helpfully. "It looks like something's happening."

Lo and behold, something was indeed happening.

The small-looking girl was charging towards Bakugou once more, though there was something about this attack which seemed different, in a way. Kirishima couldn't really place it, but it looked like looked like she had regained some sort of confidence as she ran onwards, chopped brown hair blurring into a dark line which they could barely keep their eyes on, her movements taking on a sharper edge.

Bakugou raised a hand, and the beginnings of a large explosion sparked away at his fingertips, and their hearts lurched as he unleashed his largest explosion yet.

With a loud bang, plumes of smoke and dust were rising from the battlefield, and loose rubble was scattered about the stadium. Blasty sure had his way of wreaking havoc.

Kirishima's eyes widened as he surveyed the scene before him- there was no way that this was happening once more- a bitter taste settled in his mouth as he realised it reminded him of Uraraka's earlier match.

 _It couldn't be-_

The smoke dispersed, and a collective gasp rolled over the stadium at the sight that met them.

Rie was standing. A web of cracks zigzagged around her feet where her heels were firmly dug into the ground, and her left side was charred and darkened as it received the brunt of Bakugou's explosion. Her injured hand wrapped around the blonde boy's wrist, even as wisps of fresh smoke were still curling their way from his calloused fingers. She was battered, bruised, and terribly injured, but she _hadn't_ been blown away. The match wasn't over.

It wasn't hard to figure out, even for him, that Rie had taken the explosion on purpose in order to get an opportunity to attack. In other words, she had pulled a Midoriya.

Boy, was Blasty going to be majorly pissed off.

Though this went without saying, Rie was the sort who went out of her way to ensure that no one would get hurt in her plans. Allowing herself to get hurt spoke loads of her desperation- no, _determination_ to win.

Even up against Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima thought that Rie couldn't lose to him- at least in terms of manliness.

.

 _がんばって_

.

"It looks like Minamoto has given herself an opportunity to land a surprise attack!"

Present Mic was screaming again. Into his microphone, no less. It was driving her crazy.

"It's not a surprise attack when you announced it beforehand," Aizawa pointed out, his tone riddled by a sigh.

It was a sentiment echoed by Morie as she refused to give Bakugou the chance to blast her away.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" Bakugou roared, attempting to wrench his arm from her grasp as several explosions burst out from his palms. She felt the pain but bit through it, raising her other hand as she curled it into a fist-

\- a hand met hers in a block as Bakugou growled at the deadlock they were stuck in. And it would have stayed that way, too, if she had actually been aiming to punch him.

The growing pressure in the space between her curled fingers and her palm escalated as the air exploded outwards, forcing his hand to withdraw. Seizing the opportunity, she increased the pressure around her hand further as she yanked her other hand backwards; Bakugou scowled as he was promptly pulled forward roughly. Swiftly, she allowed the pressure around them to increase all at once- it bit and pressed down on both of them hard, swirling harshly as if meaning to choke them..

 _'After all, Bakugou, even_ you _are not immune to the side effects of pressure up close.'_

Not willing to give in, he propelled himself over her with a harsh spurt of orange flames, twisting out of her grasp, inciting a wince from her as he landed behind her. Morie whirled around, hand wrapped around her bruised wrist (so much for protecting her hands), and she glanced at Bakugou to see that he was doing the same. A small sense of satisfaction bubbled up within her that the boy with ash blonde hair seemed to be losing steam, even if by only a little. The new bruise blooming on his wrist only proved that.

With any luck, he should be experiencing other ill side-effects soon: headaches, nausea, fatigue- she chuckled. Never had she expected that she would choose to go all _kamikaze_ on this guy. Against someone much physically stronger than her, it might not mean much, but at least she could leave a mark of sorts before the fight was inevitably concluded.

Something clicked within those red eyes of his then.

"Tch," he clicked his tongue, before fixing his glare onto her. "Angel-face, you, Deku- are you all fucking stubborn or what?"

 _You seem pretty stubborn to me too,_ she mused, resisting the urge the chuckle at the irony of his words.

Morie looked up at him, somehow finding it within herself to shake off the achimg of her wrist and send him a grin- much like the time she had blurted out the secret nickname that was Mr Spiky Hair.

"Nah," she responded, though she was beaming widely as she somehow got reminded of Kirishima. "It's called being manly."

Bakugou snorted at that.

"You hang out too much with that shitty hair-for-brains," he scoffed. He could deny it as much as he wanted, but he undoubtedly was more fond of Kirishima than he let on.

Morie laughed, and as much as it was weird to be bonding with Bakugou Katsuki of all people, on a battlefield of all places, no less, she silently thought that _this wasn't so bad_. Sure he was a piece of shit, and she could not deny being a little terrified of him; yet he was taking her seriously, and not underestimating her like many would. It had been the same for the match against Uraraka, and in her opinion that was an admirable quality.

' _It's about_ _time for this to end, then.'_

"Your move." The offered words barely left her mouth before the expression on his face turned into a scowl almost instantly. It was like he was aware that she was baiting him, and was inwardly seething.

"Fuck off," he bit back.

"Ah." She didn't know how to reply to that, so she uncomfortably pretended that she hadn't heard that.

The pressure burned and weighed on her limbs as she ran forwards. Unsurprisingly, Rie wasn't the only one who did so as her fist met his in an blast of air and sputtering flames.

They were still at it five minutes later, and the aftereffects of her quirk caught up with her faster than expected as abruptly her head began to swirl and her mind blanked out for a moment. That moment of weakness knocked her backwards, and her fingers clawed at the dirt ground as she tried to force herself off the ground.

Somehow, her collapsed legs and arms pushed up again, barely supporting her weight anymore as she dragged and pulled her limbs behind her, stumbling. For a reason Morie did not comprehend, they were dragging her to where Bakugou stood, in the middle of the arena.

People were shouting out from the crowds now for the match to be called off, but in response a dry smile tugged up on a side of her parched lips.

 _They don't understand_ , she thought. _The match ended the moment his punch connected with me. He doesn't know that though, he's still wary._

No one stopped her as she stood, barely able to balance herself before the blonde boy, and with a smile she watched as he tensed up.

Morie did not remember what she meant to say to him amidst the fire spreading through her lungs and limbs and her splitting migraine, but smiling strangely came naturally to her.

"Please don't kill me," she heard herself say. "But I sort of can't move my arms anymore."

A pause. To prove her point, she tried to shove her unbruised arm into the air and failed. She settled for squeezing her eyes shut and raising her voice.

"A heroine knows her limits," Morie forced herself to be louder. A hush settled over the arena then, as Bakugou's red eyes narrowed dangerously. "I forfeit."

"You've got to be fucking _kidding_ \- " He roared, but Morie turned towards him and bowed her head, brown strands falling into her face.

She could feel his gaze boring into the back of her head.

"Bakugou." _Woah, that has got to be the first time I addressed him voluntarily when he's angry._ "Thank you for the match."

Morie remained in that position for a while, before she toppled gracelessly onto the ground two minutes later and Midnight realised that she had finally passed out.

 _Ah, I_ _can't fight Todoroki now_ , was the last thought that flit through her feebly conscious mind. _I don't know, that actually really sucks._ _I bet Bakugou's really pissed off, too. Hah, l_ _ucky me._

.

Exhaustion and sleep deprivation certainly did wonders for her.

Morie awoke an hour later, blood pressure normalised and perfectly healthy- though heck, saying she was exhausted was a massive understatement - she was so tired, in fact, she hadn't minded at all when she was suddenly tackled by a watery-eyed Mina and Kirishima.

Then, glancing down at the former-arena, her dark eyes widened. The sight of a spittingly furious Bakugou tied to the Number One post greeted her, which could only mean one thing- _he beat Todorok_ i.

"Fuck this! I'm not number one if I don't acknowledge it-" The boy was evidently swearing his mouth off, though All Might stuffed his now-free mouth with a gold medal, which silenced him as it clamped in between his bared teeth. Even as his violent protests were muffled, he continued to thrash about like a wild animal.

Frazzled and pissed off, even after he'd won the whole tournament. She certainly hadn't been around for the grand showdown between Bakugou and Todoroki, but somehow that just seemed so _Bakugou_ , for the lack of a way to explain it. Morie felt somewhat amused, even though the sight of him was still fear-invoking.

While she had never envisioned a 'hero' to be one gagged and strapped in a straightjacket, struggling crazedly against his restraints, somehow she didn't doubt for a second that the angry guy on the podium was one in the making.

' _As weird as that sounded_ ,' she thought sheepishly. Unknowingly, her eyes had drifted back to the figure with ash-blonde hair far below with poorly-concealed curiosity. _'With that said, I still_ _don't know what to make of him, though.'_

Not wanting to be caught staring, she looked away with haste, instinctively feeling around her pocket for a stray marble she could fiddle with. At last, her fingers met with nothing and she settled for playing with her fingers instead, a contemplative look flashing over her features.

It was a strange thing, really. Bakugou Katsuki had seemed so within reach when they were both in the confines of the arena; yet now she couldn't help but feel like he was so, so far away.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **What do you think? This chapter was actually rewritten a few times- I was experimenting with ways to make the little 'interlude' flow better. Settng up Bakugou and Morie's interactions was pretty challenging, too.**

 ***Edit: The fight scene was edited so that what happened was more clearer. Rie put herself in a vulnerable position so that she could land a hit, or at least use her quirk on him while he is unable to move. Putting both of them in a deadlock makes it possible for him to be exposed to her quirk since he was finally within range. If you're wondering why she wasn't subjecting pressure on Bakugou when he was attacking her, it's because her quirk requires visualisation. Bakugou was using his quirk all the while which meant she didn't have the time to figure out how she could apply her quirk.**

 **And hey can you believe it? We're nearing a hundred reviews! I would like to thank all you readers and everyone who left a review, favorite or follow- everytime I get a notification from fanfiction, I feel so happy:') Thank you for the support, and I apologise if I haven't responded to your reviews- I refer a lot to reviews when I'm writing, and often I lose track of reviews. Feel free to leave me feedback via PM or tumblr!**

 **Also, I'll also be updating the side story to SD, Kerosene Hearts more often, where background stories and alternative versions to events will be posted. I also to try to post chapters relevant to current events of SD, so so check it out if you're interested in knowing more!**

 **As always, don't forget to let me know what you think, and thank you for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

Responding to reviews:

 _FanofThisStory_ : Her relationship with Todoroki will be complicated, but I doubt that it will ever go over in the romantic spectrum. A reader has asked me before if there will be a live triangle between Bakugou, Rie, and Todoroki, and nothing like that will happen, really. Also, about Uraraka being Roundface instead of Angelface, I took 'Angelface' from the manga (though I heard it was a mistranslation.) I decided to use it anyway though, as it has a nicer flow to it and I imagine that Bakugou uses it mockingly, in the context of this story.

 _TaskRabbit_ : Thank you for your honesty, really! I decided to place more focus on their interactions instead of their fighting, which is why the fighting seems lackluster. As suggested, I did go back and add in more explanation as to how Rie was using her quirk on Bakugou, and I apologise for not making it more clear in the first place. However, that part you mentioned about Rie not landing a single hit on Bakugou or not even trying to hit him, in any case was intentional- I was hoping to highlight that her passiveness when fighting is a problem, and it will be brought up again later. I was quite surprised that you compared her fight to that of Shikamaru's as well, but just to clarify, what she did accomplish was get him close enough to use her quirk on him, even if only for a few seconds.

 _BluePainter:_ It's interesting that you brought up Memento Mori haha, since it cam be used as an artistic symbol for mortality, which ties in with the BNHA-verse and with Rie being an artist well! I don't mind your influx of reviews at all, I really enjoyed reading your views on the chapters; I'm thankful that you enjoyed the little details I added in!

Moving on to the chapter now-

.

Chapter Fifteen: Chatterbox

* * *

 _Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day_ , she thought, letting out a sigh as she pushed through the door wearily, feeling the exhaustion following events of the day catching up with her.

It was relatively late in the evening, and Morie was more than glad to reach home at last. The whole glamour of the Sports Festival had faded away some time ago as she stumbled home, feeling tired yet oddly at peace.

"I'm home." She spoke softly, shutting the door behind her as she peered around with a small frown, dark almond eyes squinting a little at the lack of light. Normally, her house would be filled with noise- be it the clunking sound of pots and pans, or the relentless explosion-slash-screaming noises which often could be heard from next door.

Hence, the silence that hung through the house set her on edge- now where on earth was her father? Not to mention, shouldn't Mom be home from work by now? The kitchen was dark and empty, not only that, the pink apron her father usually wore was neatly folded, hanging on the side of a chair.

' _That's strange_ , ' her eyebrows furrowed a little as she continued surveying her empty surroundings, moving to on the lights. ' _Dad made dinner, but he's not here? Last-minute grocery shopping, maybe._ '

It was at this instant did a loud ring echo through the halls, and feeling a bit startled, she hobbled over to answer the phone.

"Hello?" Morie spoke unsurely, ears perking up however at the familiar light-sounding voice that responded to her. "Where did you go, dad? And where's Mom?"

"The television broke (or rather I broke it so don't tell your mom), so I went over next door to watch the Festival, Mori. Your Mom's here, too- she just got home ten minutes ago. Could you bring over the pot of soup? We're having dinner with the neighbours. Careful though, it's probably still a little hot."

Recalling the untouched pot in the kitchen, Morie raised an eyebrow. "By 'neighbours', you mean Masaru-san's place?"

"The one and only." A silent sigh escape her as she could practically picture her father giving a shameless wink.

"You can wash up first, if you'd like. There's no hurry at all." Chika stated cheerfully, before hanging up the phone. For a moment, she could already see him polishing his glasses with a glint to his eyes as he said that- he was clearly baiting her to try taking her time. Staring pensively at the phone for a few moments, Morie shook her head and shifted towards her room.

 _That sounded awfully passive-aggressive. But hell yeah, I'm definitely showering first. Whatever, dad._ At the thought, she cringed, suddenly aware of the blood and filth that lined her limbs.

Gross.

(Showering was more painful than expected, as her body was more sore and beat up from the competitions. Recovery Girl hadn't managed to heal all of her injuries without risking her passing out again, for example the bruise on her twisted wrist- she was just lucky that it was on her nondominant hand.)

 _I need a proper hair cut_ , Morie remarked as she glared at her reflection, tugging at a few ends of loose hair. The brown strands stuck up at weird angles, yet her bangs were longer and hung in her face. Her face scrunched up instinctively- somehow she thought it wasn't surprising that people often mistook her to be a girly boy. Not that she minded that much now, but somehow her short locks managed to be as stubborn and untameable as her previously long hair.

Towel-drying her hair, she didn't bother pinning or gelling back her bangs, instead sweeping them to the side of her face lazily as she threw on a loose shirt and shorts, before grumbling somewhat as she hoisted up the gigantic pot of soup with her healthy arm before proceeding to saunter over next door.

Someone had left the gate unlocked, so she simply let herself in. Heck, since they were expecting her, no one would mind, right?

The main door swung open before Morie could rap on it, and she gaped, greeted by the sight of an impressive-looking woman. Somehow, she looked disturbingly familiar, what with the way her light ash blond hair stuck up in a prickly fashion and the flicker of red in her irises; not only that, she was dressed with a dark cardigan over a blouse and a skirt, pulling off a casual yet dignified image. Under the scrutiny of her red eyes, Morie couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Ah. Bakugou. They reminded her of him.

"... hello," she greeted softly. "I was asked by my father to come over?"

Hesitantly, she lifted the pot of soup and shot the older woman a small smile.

Something shifted in the woman's eyes, and she could've sworn that she saw them gleam for a split second.

"So you're the kid, huh?" The lady threw back her head and laughed. It was a contagious, good-natured laugh, albeit a little loud, but she was relieved the hear the sound nonetheless. "Morie-chan, was it? Those parents of yours told me about you."

Her parents talked about her? Since when? About what?

Shit.

(The impression she had about what the older generation did when they got together was that gossiping was not an act restricted to teenage girls, and that mere thought terrified her. Geez, who knew how many embarrassing baby stories had been leaked out to the likes of strangers.)

Making a vague noise of agreement, Morie nodded.

"Yes, that's me," she was caught off guard, but surely she should just act like she normally did? "It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

The blond woman's eyes flashed, and the corners of her lips suddenly lifted in a grin.

"Finally a kid who knows some respect," the woman barked, giving her a hard thump on her back. She could've sworn that the woman also muttered something along the lines of ' _the brat has a thing or two to learn_.' "Call me Mitsuki. Come on in, will you?"

"Thank you, Mitsuki-san." Morie smiled, feeling very much like she pulled a Kirishima* in that moment.

"Goodness," Mitsuki commented offhandedly. "Aren't you just adorable?" At once, Morie sputtered in denial as she could practically feel her cheeks warming. Why the hell does everyone keep saying that?

Stepping into the house, she slipped off her slippers and followed the older woman into the house. They turned into what she assumed was the dining room and-

 _Oof!_

Did something just _tackle_ her?

The small-sized girl looked up to take in a wide grin and twinkling hazel brown eyes.

"Hey, dad," Morie beamed as she returned the hug, though she protested slightly when he suddenly hovered her over his shoulder and into the dining room. The pot of soup was hovered out of her grasp before landing on the table ahead of them with a soft thud.

"Dad, you're embarrassing me." She protested, squirming a little, and finally she was set down on her feet. Blinking, her eyes refocused on her new surroundings as she regained her balance.

"Mom!" She beamed, catching sight of the brown-haired woman seated at the dining table. Fū had obviously just ended work- she was dressed formally, light-brown hair twisted up into a bun. While many heroes had opted to take the day off in favour of watching the Festival, Fū and her sidekick had taken it upon themselves to do rounds around the city.

A smile spread across the older woman's face as she pulled in the younger girl for a hug gently, hands ruffling her hair as she did so. Morie couldn't help but note the roughness of Fū's calloused fingers as they brushed across her forehead.

"Hey, kiddo," her mother's eyes crinkled, the way they always did when she smiled. "You did well today."

' _We're proud of you_ ,' went without saying..

A tinge of pink flushed across Morie's face at the praise as the corners of her lips lifted in joy; yet she was shaking her head out of habit almost immediately- it was like she was ashamed of allowing herself to feel even a bit of pride towards her performance.

"Ah," she half-shrugged. "I could've done better. And I will do better, next time."

' _I still can't live up to you and Dad._ '

Her reply was met with a small scolding flick in the forehead, and Morie scooted away a little, hands held up in protest. A shout from outside the room shattered the brief silence, and she identified the voice to be that of Bakugou Mitsuki.

"Oi, brat! Get your ass down here, we have guests!".

For a while, there was nothing to be heard. Then suddenly, a disgruntled and obviously pissed off voice was yelling right back. "The hell are you shouting for, you hag?!"

"Don't you fucking swear!"

Morie let out a nervous chuckle, fiddling with a stray marble in her pocket. Eyeing her parents, she began to ponder: was she the only one who found this situation extremely awkward? And hell, now she had an excuse to talk back to Chika should ever berate her for was a loud slam (because dramatic exits were necessary to prove a point-slash- show your anger) and Morie couldn't help but stiffen at the sight of Bakugou Katsuki stomping his way down the stairs. Somehow, her eyes were glued to him, even though she'd seen him only hours ago, being strapped to the podium and biting onto his medal with a feral ferocity.

 _When were we friends with the Bakugou's, again?_

"Geez, your mom and I have social lives too, you know?" Chika deftly remarked, raising an eyebrow.

 _... touché_.

Turning away from the direction of the staircase, Morie couldn't help but feel immensely out of place before the guy who kicked her ass just earlier that day.

"I'll bring out the rice," she stated out loud, sending Chika a mock glower when a bowl began to hover in the air." _No_. No using your quirk, dad."

Bakugou sauntered into the room then, hands tucked into his pants pocket, his slouched posture plain screaming that he did not want to be here. As his head jerked upwards to survey the intruders in his home, her dark eyes briefly met his gaze before hastily turning away a mere few seconds later.

"Hello, Masaru-san," Morie walked away, approaching Bakugou's father who was gathering chopsticks. _Nope, totally not avoiding him for no reason. Nope_. Refusing to look in the aforementioned boy's direction was a dead giveaway but she just couldn't bring herself to look at him again. "How is Kuro-chan?"

(That's right, she and Bakugou's father bonded over stray cats.

Sue her.)

That was how she survived the rest of the evening; at times she made small talk with Mitsuki- though she had no idea why, since she couldn't stand small talk as it made her bored and restless. Most of the time, she kept to herself, eating her rice contentfully as she listened in on the adults' conversations. Either that, or she occasionally glanced at Bakugou when she hoped he wasn't looking, noting his overall sour expression and feeling just the slightest bit concerned.

After another (entertaining) series of yells, Bakugou, now forbidden from locking himself in his room upstairs like a recluse, was currently seated at a sofa in the corner of the spacious living room. His brooding demeanour reminded her of the time she had bumped into him outside her house more than ten months ago, though Bakugou was almost certainly different from how he had been back then.

It was when she turned away to use her phone (Ren sent her somethinb) when she was rudely interrupted by Chika's voice speaking over her shoulder (and not in her head, for once.)

"C'mon, don't be anti-social, Mori." He mock-lectured, an expectant look was clearly imprinted into his expression. A strong surge of reluctance flowed through her as she opened her mouth to protest- yet another semi-stern look from her father shut her up. Ultimately, Morie relented, sighing as she begrudgingly stuffed her phone back in her back pocket. Replying to Ren's message would have to wait- for now, at least.

"Yes, dad, I'm going." She replied, using The Tone that all teenagers used when placating their parents. Then she pushed up from her comfortable spot on the sofa to join Mr Spiky Hair in his remote corner, who she might add, looked particularly irritated this fine evening. Nodding in satisfaction, Chika turned and reentered the kitchen, where the adults were catching up of sorts.

Anxiety, at this point no longer a stranger to her, bit away at her as she made her way towards him with small, tentative steps.

"Hey, Bakugou," Morie called out softly. One could even say she sounded cautious, as if she was trying to avoid provoking him. Sitting down a safe distance away from him and huddling her legs close to her chest, the brown-haired peered at him from the corner of her eyes.

The said boy was eyeing warily her now, suspicion lined in his features.

"... the hell do you want," he muttered, obviously in a less than sunny mood. However, truth to be told, she was surprised that he had even bothered answering her at all.

A period of silence ensued as she pondered about what to say. Then Morie swallowed.

"My dad didn't want me to use my phone, so here I am. How are you feeling?" She stated, and almost immediately she could feel that she had provoked his ire as his gaze hardened into a glare.

Bakugou scowled. "I got a fucking headache, how do you think I'm feeling?"

 _Ah shit. I did that._

Torn between wanting to apologise for the effects of Pressure and wanting to continue living, Morie folded her fingers together and shrugged.

"Ah, that sucks. Hope you'll feel better soon." She stated lamely. Silence ensued, and inwardly she was beginning to freak out a bit- after three seconds, silence had a tendency to become awkward. Not that any normal guides to making conversation would apply to Bakugou Katsuki.

So Morie blurted out the first thing that came to mind, a.k.a she signed her death contract.

"Why were you so upset about winning yesterday?"

Feeling slightly alarmed at the sight of Bakugou's knuckles tightening, his teeth clenching, she got the vague impression that she had just stepped on a landmine. He turned upon her in an instant, a bolting look flashing within his red eyes. Without warning, a hand reached up and seized the front of her shirt, forcing her forward. Her eyes widened.

"Listen here, dipshit," his lips pulled up in a sneer, baring his teeth, and she found that she could do no more than stare at him. "That's none of your fucking business. Now leave me alone."

Normally, Morie thought that she would have stammered out an apology, or remained silent. Yet a strange defiance was possessing her, just as it had possessed her during the Classroom Incident. She thought that she would have been scared witless, but examining his features, she once again got the feeling that his anger wasn't all directed at her.

A strange calm descended upon her as her dark eyes met his red ones in a silent stare.

"That was an innocent question," she responded, "I was knocked out-" _From our match, remember?_ " -would you fill me in what happened, Bakugou?"

'Would you', not 'can you', 'please', or 'what happened'. She was very much giving him the choice to deny her if he wanted to- which wouldn't be that big of a deal, anyway, since she could always request for recordings of the matches.

Morie glanced up at him, refusing to lose their silent staring match. Miraculously, Bakugou's hold loosened and relief flooded through her like a broken dam. She didn't move from her position near him, simply inclining her head to face him.

He didn't speak for a while, but when he finally did, he sounded was far from pleased.

"That _bastard_ ," Bakugou snarled. "he held back on me. What the hell is with that? He used that goddamned fire even when he was fighting _Deku_." He spat out that last bit venomously like it was a painful admission, biting into each syllable with a nameless fury.

Morie frowned. "Todoroki probably has his reasons- "

"Stop mocking me," he bit out. "Do you seriously think I don't know that, dipshit?"

"I'm not mocking you," Morie sighed, fidgeting a little with her hands as she was deep in thought. "But I do get where you're coming from- "

"- _shut the fuck up_ , you don't know anything!"

Fists trembling, Bakugou growled, and she could feel his glare boring through the side of her head aggressively. Swallowing, Morie sent him a sharp look, holding up her hands in surrender.

"Hear me out. I felt like a piece of shit when Kiri lost our match because half of his foot was out of the line- it wasn't a satisfying march for the both of us at all," She scowled a little at the bitter remembrance of that not-win. "What I'm really trying to say is I understand that you don't acknowledge your win, but you did turn out on top this time. Hell, it sucked that the guy didn't go all out for your big match- he has issues with his quirk, but it was nothing against you in particular. No one in their right mind would think that you're not worthy, or that you're weak or something."

Mr Spiky Hair looked about a second away from erupting, from pouncing at her throat and murdering her.

"I told you to _shut up_ ," there was an underlying edge to his voice with every word he spoke, one that warned her to back away or else. "I don't need your goddamn counselling- who do you think you are?"

(She didn't.)

Morie was staring back at him, panic drumming away at her nerves.

How would she explain to him that she wasn't offering support to be superior than him? How does one make someone as prickly as him understand that as terrified as she was of him, she just couldn't help worrying about him- heck, not just him, but everyone?

"For one," she began her descent into dangerous waters before she could lose her nerve all together. "I'm your neighbour, your classmate, a lunch buddy, a friend of Kiri, who's your friend - "

He said nothing to refute that, and Morie swallowed. She knew that she was helplessly rambling (' _why oh why was she even addressing a rhetorical question?'_ ) yet she couldn't do anything to stop it.

" - I'm also the person you beat up a couple of hours ago. As much as I hate to admit it, you've been popping up in my life quite a bit. I guess you're right in saying that I don't know anything about you but really, why are you so against the idea of accepting the support of those who actually give a shit about you?"

Silence. If there was any indication that he was listening at all, she couldn't see it.

Running a hand through her hair, Morie sighed. Then the gravity of the situation fully hit her, and she lost her cool.

' _Ah, shitshitshit I've said too much.'_

The brown-haired opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again- her throat felt dry, and she felt like ripping her hair out. Why had possessed her to say something like that to Bakugou?

"Sorry," she managed to speak. "I was being stupid, it's not my place to say that at all, I- "

"Shut up."

Bakugou was glaring determinedly at a point on the floor, his posture screaming of hostility; yet his voice bore no actual malice.

"Just- shut your trap, Minamoto," his teeth gave a sharp click of annoyance. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd imagined the bitterness of his gaze, the gritty edge to his voice. "I never asked to be fucking _cared about_ , did I?"

That shut her up at last. Not one word was spoken, not even a farewell when it was time to leave.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter sort of got heavier than expected. Just Rie trying to get Bakugou to cheer up and somehow getting him pissed off- at least he remembers who she is, now. Things are going to get more awkward now.**

 **After this, I'll be updating Kerosene Hearts a bit- do check it out haha!**

 **Do tell me what you think about this chapter. What was your favorite part of it? What would you like to see next? Would especially like to seek your feedback about my take on Bakugou as a character.**

 **Thanks for reading! And before I forget, we hit a hundred reviews and I only have you to thank for that.**

 **\- C**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: Conflicts

* * *

BAEREN: rie

BAEREN: when the hell did my precious child become a badass ;;

BAEREN: so proud of you!

rie: Haha.

rie: Not a badass but thank you! Gotta talk to you about something later btw.

.

(unsaved number): COUSIN!

(unsaved number): YOU PERFORMED ADMIRABLY!

(unsaved number): I'M IN AWE AT YOUR NEW PASSION!

* * *

Who the hell was this?

Morie stared at the phone blankly. Then it all clicked- there was only one person alive who would talk in such an obnoxiously loud manner. She couldn't help but wonder, though- how had her cousin managed to get her number?

(Ren was looking awfully suspicious now.)

But then she sighed resignedly- her cousin was the type of guy who would not take 'no' for an answer. As she began to type up a reply to her hotheaded cousin- seriously though, what was with the capitol letters?

rie: Thank you.

rie: You doing alright?

.

(She took the opportunity to save his contact.)

.

Guy Who Passes Wind: Of course!

Guy Who Passes Wind: Let's fight when we meet again, dear cousin!

.

(Fighting in any form, she thought, was plain exhausting.)

.

rie: Eh, no thanks. Good night, I guess.

' _Go to sleep_ ,' her dad's voice rang in her head and she looked over her phone only to see him frowning at her. The man had evident just stepped out of the shower- he was ruffling at his dark hair with a white towel and wiping at his glasses with the hem of his shirt.

Not feeling particularly sleepy, the brown-haired girl agreed simply for the sake of agreeing, but not before she read one last message (' _have a blissful sleep, cousin!')_

 _'Yes_ _dad_ ,' she droned back in response, before climbing upstairs and dumping her phone at the side of her bed.

Rolling around on the covers, Morie stared out into space. The fact that tomorrow was a free day lifted her moods a little- she certainly looked forward to all the newfound free time.

A familiar headache throbbed within her head, and she knew for a fact that for once, it wasn't induced by Pressure- rather, it was caused by her irritable neighbour, Bakugou Katsuki. The events of the day kept replaying in her head, and hastily she shook her head as if hoping that she could be free of the memory.

Morie made a sour face as the visage of his ash blond hair and red eyes flashed across her mind.

' _I_ _hope your headache is as bad as mine, you bastard.'_ Then she reminded herself that the whole disagreement was technically her own fault in the first place- she had been meddling and nosy. Bakugou was not obliged to accept anyone or their help- though she couldn't deny that the rejection had stung.

' _I guess I was a bit pushy? I'm convinced he has a pole up his ass though.'_ At that thought, she cringed a little.

Letting out a sigh, she tossed and turned in her covers a bit, before her dark almond eyes snapped open again. Somehow, she just couldn't sleep. The stubborn thumping of her heartbeats that refused to calm down, as if she'd chugged down an expresso; the restless feeling she got when she lay down- there was just no explanation for it.

' _Must be all the excitement today,'_ she shrugged it off.

In that very moment, a notification flashed over her screen- a message on Care-or-Sell, illuminating up her phone screen in the dark room.

Tapping on the notification (no harm in reading one more message, right?), she was redirected to a chatroom with the user 'hero', and Morie remembered that she still owed him his commission from god-knows-how-long-ago.

' _Hello. When will my commission be available?_ ' came the message.

Morie crept over to her table, shining her phone light over the drying canvas to assess her nearly-completed painting.

' _It should be done by next week,_ ' she estimated. The buyer didn't reply for a while, and only sent a message a few minutes later.

' _Noted_.'

The brown-haired girl set down her phone for real this time as she flopped back onto her bed, feeling exhaustion dulling her ability to feel. She couldn't help but smile, however- if she'd remembered correctly, the user 'hero' had long followed the postings of her art on Instagram. When she had first announced that she would be doing commissions, they had seemingly went to place an order immediately on Care-or-Sell.

Morie was extremely fond of her long-time supporters of her work; not to mention that she appreciated the politeness and straightforwardness of 'hero'- the user was certainly one of her more pleasant clients thus far.

 _At least I know what I'm going to do tomorrow_ , the artist thought glumly, eyes flickering over to her painting in all its unfinished glory. Even so, a familiar excitement ebbed into her veins- her hand was itching to pick up a wooden brush to mix up a myriad of colours and trace out intricate details and to just _create_.

The fact the end-of-terms, had to be coming soon didn't help, as it signified that she needed to study. How fun- studying was definitely _not_ a torture for her- she could _live_ and _breathe_ on studying alone!

Yet the terrible memories of what cramming before a test felt like made her shiver, and Morie knew she was better off slogging her ass off now, than later.

...urgh. Easier said than done.

(Maybe all she wanted was a sense of fulfillment- _enjoyment_ , after all.)

* * *

Morie's ears were turning red at an alarming rate. It was quite a feat, seeing as the last time her face heated up that quickly was when Mina tackled her in a tight smoth- hug.

"Hey! You're Minamoto from the Sports Festival!"

"Woah, you're seriously a girl?"

"You fought against the Bakugou guy, didn't you?"

"Shut up dude, she might be traumatised- "

"Bakugou was a monster though- half his matches were against girls, he seemed to love betaing them up -"

She had to admit: the comments about Bakugou was bugging her. What was with them talking about him like he was some villain, anyway? Hell, couldn't she just take the train in peace?

It seemed that the unwanted attention from participating in a widely-publicised event was now catching up with her, as Morie resisted the ever-growing urge to bury her face somewhere- maybe even dig a hole right in the middle of the train so she could jump into it. Right now, that stupid idea sounded absolutely splendid to her.

There were too many compliments, too many strangers looking her way and too many goddamned whispers. Of all the days, she just had to pick that day to leave her precious earphones at home.

Her predicament did get her thinking, though- _thank goodness_ there was the option of going anonymous in the Hero business- she could fully understand why her mother didn't want the publicity, it would altogether be too disruptive to her life.

Earlier on, her trip to the train station had been considerably slowed down as heavy rain abruptly poured buckets down in innocent street-goers- Morie had been drenched slightly before she was able to locate her umbrella. The said delay did mean that she would reach school later, however, something which didn't matter much considering that she was confident she would still reach on time.

The train doors opened a few stations later, and she spotted the owners of familiar-looking red and black hair squeeze onto the crowded train. That was all it took for the slew of comments to start flooding in again.

"Ooh, it's the tough guy!" She could've sworn that someone catcalled. "Kirishima, right?"

"And that tape guy, Sero!"

"Hah, don't mind, don't mind!"

"Woah, didn't you go up against Minamoto over there?"

Sero and Kirishima, both understandingly turning bright shades of pink, turned to look around at that last comment. Morie caught their eye meaningfully and waved.

' _Too crowded let's talk later_ ,' she mouthed.

After standing in the tense, uncomfortable whispers for what seemed like forever (most of them revolving their match-ups, and the fact that Kirishima and Morie went up against each other,) Yuuei Station arrived at last like an unspoken blessing. All eyes were trained (no pun intended) on the seemingly out-of-place trio as they alighted, and Morie immediately let out a sigh of relief, her face feeling warmer than usual.

"That was terrifying," she commented flatly, pulling out her umbrella and holding it over for Kirishima to grab onto. Walking out into the rain, she shared her umbrella with Kirishima while Sero walked on her other side.

The black-haired Tape user jerked his head in solemn agreement. "I can't believe that group of middle schoolers said that to me." He sighed, a hand placing itself on the back of his head. "It's embarrassing, to be honest."

Kirishima had a similar look of incredulity in his features- his red eyes were wide and filled with wonder. It was clear he felt somewhat flattered yet conflicted on the sudden celebrity treatment. "They kept staring, man! I didn't know how to react all."

"Yeah," she echoed her agreement, reaching over to pat their shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "I was pretty embarrassed when they pointed out me to you guys, too. It's like they were expecting a duel between us or something, which was weird."

"Well," Sero spoke again, eyes furrowing a little. "We're friends and all, but to the public we're just the next generation of heroes. l imagine ten years down the road we'll all be fighting for the top ranks, or something."

Kirishima frowned at that notion. "That's competition taken too far, isn't it?" He questioned, his voice sounding surprised. "I know I probably won't be as popular as say, Blasty or Todoroki, but seriously? Fighting over something like that?"

"Well, Midnight and Mt. Lady often go at it," Morie shook her head- she couldn't help the distaste that subsequently entered her tone. "There's rumours saying that Midnight mentored Mt. Lady at some point, but it doesn't stop them from going at each other's throats every time they have an interview together. They're not the only ones- Endeavour and All Might, Endeavour and Coriolis..."

At the mention of her mother, Morie couldn't help but ponder about the existing feud between the top heroes, and specifically what was her mother's opinion on the current hero industry. Her voice faltered off unknowingly.

There was a window of small, depressed silence, as all there was to be heard were the steady beat of falling rain and the pitter-patter of their splashing footsteps.

"All of us are buddies, right?" the one to break the brooding silence was Kirishima, who had the formings of a wide, uplifting grin across his face. "We won't be like them- we're way too manly for that."

The trio exchanged glances, and Morie felt the ghost of a smile flicker across her face. "Yeah," she echoed. "I hope so."

They finally reached the school, and they shook their umbrellas dry before entering the classroom. It seemed that majority of the class had similar experiences, as unlike their solemn air, almost all of them were buzzing in excitement. Her attention was drawn to Mashirao, however, who was talking to someone notably not from 1A.

"They were staring at me all intently, Ojirou-kun! I felt so self-conscious!" A bubbly, disembodied voice rang out. Squinting, Morie made out what seemed to be a floating uniform.

"Yeah, I got that too." Mashirao replied, before his eyes flickered over the the form before him. "On another note, aren't you going to get into trouble for being here, Hagakure-san?"

The invisible girl shifted, the movement only being visible due the shifting of her uniform. "It's fine, you worry too much!" From the brief silence, one could only assume she was petting Mashirao's arm reassuringly. "Anyway, I'm going to be a Stealth Hero, might as well start my training now!"

Morie settled down in her seat, opting to lay her head down to doze off rather than doodle as she usually would. She felt overall too sapped of strength for some reason- she wasn't the best with attention, and too much focus on her wore her out. The only comforting thought she had was that the buzz would die down after a few days, and all would return back to normal- her mornings would be peaceful again.

Bakugou Katsuki chose that moment to storm into his seat, and she instinctively averted her eyes, feeling a morose feeling settle in her stomach at the sight of him.

 _Maybe not._

"Good morning," Aizawa spoke, shuffling into the class and looking relatively bandage-free. There were a series of light footsteps as Hagakure ran out of the classroom and back next door.

"You finally took off your bandages, sensei." Tsuyu remarked, echoing her thoughts.

The shaggy-looking teacher shrugged before waving it off. "The old lady was being overdramatic," he scratched the area under his eye, suppressing a yawn as his dark eyes lazily swept across the classroom. "Putting that aside, today's Hero Informatics period will be a little more special."

Morie would've have chuckled at the tense and nervous expressions of Kirishima and Kaminari in particular, had the thoughts ' _oh shit_ ' not just surfaced in her mind herself.

Aizawa continued on, oblivious to their reactions reflecting varying degrees of horror. "It's time to formulate your Hero codenames," he explained, just as the class broke out into cheers.

Morie blinked, dark almond eyes widening a little from bewilderment. _'That's_ _surprisingly... normal.'_

It didn't take long for Aizawa to write some figures on the board, causing some questioning glances to be raised at how... unbalanced the numbers looked. Interestingly, the numbers for the first and second place were reversed, with Todoroki coming in first with 4,123 nominations. Bakugou had strangely gotten fewer nominations, with a total of 3,556.

She would wrinkle her nose at Todoroki's popularity, but what could she say? Having Endeavour for a father, a strong, flashy quirk and a cool personality was bound to make him popular with the professionals-

\- _n_ _o. Stop thinking like that. He's not that bad; he helped you out the other day, didn't he?_

Shame made itself evident over her features as she shook off those negative thoughts and focused on the sheet of paper before her, a light shade of pink dusting itself on her cheeks.

Eyes skimming down the list, Morie was pleasantly surprised to find that she had gotten a fair number of 59 nominations. Compared to the top two, it was a measly amount, but she was more than grateful that anyone had noticed her at all.

As she received her list of nominations, her eyes scanned down the list, feeling flabbergasted at the number of familiar Hero names.

 _Backdraft's Rescue Agency, Buster Hero's Office..._

She caught sight of one which made her eyes widen.

 _Kamui Woods' Office, Office of the Hero Native, No. 13..._

 _Thirteen?_ That definitely piqued her interest. Apparently, signing up under him would be less like an internship and more of a training, as he was a teacher with an agency out of school. Morie certainly liked the idea of getting trained in search and rescue, and by one of her favourite heroes, no less...

Moving on, her eyes flit through the remaining names before what she saw next made her heart stop.

' _Office of the Wind Hero, Coriolis.'_

The brown-haired girl openly gaped, blinking dumbly for a few moments as she digested this new piece of information. She suddenly felt like her spirits were soaring, a light, elated giddiness blossoming within the pits of her stomach. Then, she lightly drew a star next to the name after a few moments of considering, before hastily stowing the pencil away. Her lips rose up without restraint into a wide smile.

(It was safe to say that Morie knew where she would be spending the next week at.)

.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

.

Fifteen minutes to decide on a hero name felt alarmingly short.

In retrospect, such an important decision should have had more... warning given, though she probably should have started her own name selection process sooner.

Morie silently stressed out over the choice of a name as she repeatedly scrubbed her options off of the tiny whiteboard given to them.

 _Warm Front? Breezie? Barometrium?_

None of them had the image she was going for in her mind, heck, the last option was too tacky for her liking. Morie was aspiring to have an image like her mother- 'Coriolis' was elegant, classy, and memorable. It went without saying that her hero name was especially important if she really wanted to keep her identity anonymous; after all it would truly be the only thing people associated with when they thought of her.

What should she do?

A sigh escaped her as she forced herself to calm down and think. Maybe she was thinking too much about this. Maybe what she was looking for was much, much simpler than a couple of flashy names.

"You have one more minute!" Midnight called out from the front of the classroom.

Her eyes snapped open. Morie jolted up suddenly, and once more she uncapped her marker and began to write on the whiteboard with great care- she felt like she had just rushed to write down an answer in the last few seconds of a test.

Her hero name was penned down on her small board neatly, and nervously Morie's eyes scanned across her handiwork one last time.

"Time's up! Who wants to go first?"

Aoyama got up and strode his way to the front, his eyes surveying the class with a glint as his lips quirked up.

 _I cannot stop twinkling_

She stared at the name displayed on the whiteboard and let out a giggle- a full sentence? That was fitting of the strange French dude. Not to mention, pretty adorable. It might be a bit of a mouthful when trying to call out for his help, though.

Midnight stared at his chosen name appraisingly. "Remove 'I' and change 'cannot' to can't'." She suggested, waving him away with a hand before her gaze darted back up to the class expectantly. _"Next!"_

It was Mina's turn, and Morie watched on with interest as the pink-skinned girl slid up to the front of the class with an imp-like grin. She brandished the board in her hand like a banner.

"Right, hey, call me Alien Queen!"

A scowl spread over Midnight's face. "You want to go for the image of _that thing_?" The Hero turned to the side, clicking her tongue in annoyance. Morie blinked.

"Next!"

After that came Tsuyu ('Froppy,') and Kirishima, who proclaimed his want to be known as the Red Riot with bright, shining eyes.

' _After the Crimson Riot, then_ ,' she thought, smiling. ' _Geez, Kiri, you're getting cooler every day.'_

Catching his eye, she sent him a thumbs-up, giving him a high-five as he made his way back to his seat next to her.

Thus began the stream of name presentations. Morie watched as many of her classmates went up to share their name- Sero, Jirou, Mashirao, and Kaminari, to name a few, but somehow she just couldn't summon the courage to walk to the front of class with her whiteboard. It was like her legs had inconveniently turned into lead, for a familiar anxiety bubbled in her stomach and rendered her unable to move.

Next was Todoroki, she realised, as the boy with mismatched eyes raised his board to show his chosen name:

 _Shouto_.

"Just your name?" Midnight questioned. Morie imagined that she was expecting a more flashy name from Endeavour's son. Todoroki half-shrugged in return, seeming to be highly disinterested.

As the dual-haired boy proceeded to walk back to his seat, Morie swallowed and found that she was standing and walking to the front a split second later. Standing in the front, her fingers fiddled between each other before she hesitantly raised her whiteboard to display the words she had written:

 _continental._

"... it's a pun." She clarified, dark almond eyes shiftily darting about the class and deciding to focus on Todoroki for some reason, and a corner of her lips curled upwards as she met his impassive stare. "The hero I look up to the most is named after a geographical term, so I based mine off the Continental Effect."

Her eyes darted to Midnight for approval, and the older woman examined her chosen name silently.

"Would you mean the Wind Hero, Coriolis?" The older woman questioned, a contemplative look flashing across her features before she barked out once more. "Otherwise, the simplicity is sleek and attractive! Keep the names coming!"

Morie grabbed her board and hurried back to her seat, pink fading away from her cheeks, catching Kirishima's eye and grinning. For one, that turned out better than expected; second, Midnight, a professional hero of all people thought her chosen name was 'sleek and attractive'- she was positive that those words alone just made her day. Then her eyes darted back to the front of class and widened as they caught sight of familiar ash blond hair.

 _'Bakugou, huh,_ ' she thought, ' _wonder what he came up with?'_

Making sure to avoid eye contact with the red-eyed boy, Morie straightened in attention as her eyes surveyed his chosen name.

"King of Explodo-kills?"

Midnight stared at the name, looking either done or incredulous. She jabbed a hand at her waist and let out a sigh. "That's too violent. You'd be better off _retiring_ on that one."

Bakugou stormed back to his seat at that, unironically cursing loudly under his breath as he scowled at his whiteboard. For some reason, Morie found that display extremely amusing and turned away before he could notice that she was chuckling.

It would be a lie if she said that she wasn't expecting a more ... badass name, for the lack of a better word. Seriously, it was like Bakugou was secretly a dork or something. Then, remembering the events from yesterday, the brown-haired girl deliberately turned away so that she wouldn't have to face him when he walked past her seat to reach his.

Finally came Iida, (who totally pulled a Todoroki) and then it was Midoriya, who declared his chosen name in the most adorable way possible- and she wasn't the only one who was surprised.

' _Deku_ '? Wasn't that Bakugou's way of insulting him?

(She'd never really understood the relationship between the two- one was kind, one was just _not_ \- to her it might as well be one of the Seven Wonders of the World.)

Then the brown-haired girl shrugged off the thought as he explained that a certain someone changed the meaning for him, and she had to admit that it was touching, at the very least. From where she sat, she could clearly spot an impish grin growing across Mina's jovial features- the girl was undoubtedly thinking something along the lines of 'ship material!'

At long last, Bakugou went up again after Midproya scampered back to his seat. This time, though, he still comically proclaimed that his name be 'Baron of Explodo-kills'. Morie squashed the urge to giggle, feeling quite determined to maintain her uncharacteristic poker-face but failing somewhat.

(It still didn't fly.)

.

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ

.

Lunch, she thought, was the best period of the day.

It was probably the only time she was genuinely happy- heck, good food which was relatively cheap? That had to be the best thing in the world!

"We didn't get to talk during class," Kirishima started in between mouthfuls of donburi. "but where are you guys going?"

Normally she did the answering, but the question made her hesitate. Would it be too much of a giveaway? But they would have already known that she admired Coriolis, from the name-sharing earlier.

"A patrolling office somewhere near here," Sero was theone who spoke first.

"Snipe's office," Kaminari chimed in, tapping his chin. He seemed to have been carefully considering his options, even during class.

"I'm impressed," she raised an eyebrow. "Your first choice wasn't the hero office of a pretty lady?"

The yellow-haired boy grinned and leaned in closer.

"Believe me, I _was_ considering it," he told her seriously. "Mt. Lady's my second choice."

Morie laughed at that. "Well, you better hope that Mineta gets her instead of you, then."

"Why?" Kaminari perked up at that, confusion clouding his yellow eyes though he quickly sent her a sly look. "What, you jealous or something?"

 _Jealous? Absolutely not_. She sent him a flat look.

"No," came her deadpanned response. "Why don't you wait for Mineta or some other poor bloke to come back and tell you?"

The yellow-haired boy looked mildly disturbed at the warning, and he cleared his throat. "Anyway, that just leaves you, Morie-chan. Where are you thinking of heading to?"

"Um- "

Her throat went dry as a slam made itself heard from across the table.

' _Ah, shit.'_

Bakugou had evidently decided to join them for lunch once more- not that he looked happy about it.

Kirishima looked up at the new arrival. "Blasty, my man! Glad you joined us!" He called out in excitement, sending him a wide grin. Bakugou twitched at the nickname, but he seemed to have deemed correcting the overzealous Kirishima as a fruitless cause, for his only response was lowly biting out a 'shut _up_ , shitty hair.'

Watching as Bakugou took a seat, Morie stiffened as a feeling of discomfort began to well up within her. Her conversation with Bakugou yesterday had left her frustrated yet mortified; as a result she was at a loss as to how she should act around him now. Would he still be mad at her?

As always, the red-haired boy merely grinned at Bakugou's response, seemingly unfazed, before he turned to glance at her. "Rie-san, you were saying?"

Morie froze. She had almost wished that they had forgotten about her for a moment- and oh shit now Bakugou would be made aware of her presence, too. Fiddling with a stray marble in her pocket, she let out a soft sigh.

It seemed that there was no helping it, then.

"... Coriolis' office," she hesitated, before bashfully trudging on in her reply- though she couldn't help but feel like she was venturing into untested waters. "I was quite surprised."

Kaminari's jaw fell open, eyes growing comically wide.

"Coriolis? You gotta be shitting me, she's in the top five!"

"You struck gold, man," Sero commented, shaking his head in disbelief.

Kirishima had a thoughtful look in his eyes, however.

"Hm, I thought you would choose Thirteen, since he's in the list," he pointed out. "You like him, right?"

Her cheeks flushed at the implications of his statement, but she hastily waved it off.

"Yeah, but not in t-that way!" She protested. Even if she _did_ have a small crush on the Space Hero, that would have to mean that she had feelings for every other hero out there. Or did it?

Argh, maybe she just had a soft spot for those with the whole 'gentleman' vibe going on. She hoped that it was just a phase.

"Denial," Sero deadpanned, earning him a flustered and vehement 'I am _not!_ ' in response.

In the meantime, Kirishima was laugjing loudly at her as he straightened up, his hands propped on the table.

"Seriously, I'm really happy for you, Rie-san!" He exclaimed, eyes gleaming brightly as he reached over for a fist bump. Morie obliged, beaming. "I'm going to Fourth Kind's office, he seems pretty cool, don't you think?"

Then Kirishima turned to Bakugou, who had been all but ignoring the conversation, his aura as unapproachable as ever.

"Hey, Bakugou, where are you planning to go?" He asked good-naturedly. Morie's eyes darted over to him as well, though she remained silent- there was no denying that she was just a tad bit curious about the agency Mr Spiky Hair was going to, out of the thousands that had nominated him.

Predictably, the aforementioned boy fixed his eyes onto him and a scowl crossed his face.

"None of your goddamn business." The boy grumbled, before proceeding to stab the hell out of the chicken in his bowl, stuffing it in his mouth with a vengeful fury.

... _okay then._

(Not that she had been expecting much, anyway.)

Morie decidedly turned back to her food with a small scowl- one that didn't go unnoticed by Kirishima.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Didn't like all the linebreaks so you got some emojis!**

 **Also, this seems like a lighthearted, mundane chapter at first glance, but I wonder if Morie's inward turmoil is obvious? I'm also curious to know what you think of her hero name 'continental' and the parallel between both her and Todoroki going over to their parent's agency.**

 **With every chapter I'm rewriting, I'm derailing further and further from what I pictured Bakugou and Morie's relationship to be, to the point where I'm certain Katsurie will be am extremely slow burn. I would be grateful to have any kind of feedback regarding them and the story in general.**

 **Don't forget to let me know what you think in the reviews! Thank you for reading- and also, consider this a new year surprise!;)**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: Strange Things

Three more achingly long days into the week, the she decided that she couldn't take it anymore.

Bakugou Katsuki, (a.k.a the guy who hated her guts) was _everywhere_. It was a lost cause, really. He sat near her in class, he joined them for lunch, he lived next to her- avoiding him was about as fruitful as watching paint dry.

Three days was a long time to do some reflecting. Morie had pinpointed the reason for her inital annoyance towards Mr Spiky Hair- it was strange, but she somehow had felt hurt, of all things. She was someone who generally wore her heart on her sleeve- something, she decided, made it all too easy for her to become attached to other people. When Bakugou rejected her concern, she must've subconsciously felt like he was rejecting her as a person.

... yeah, that must be it.

As much as she didn't like to admit it, she couldn't keep going on like this forever. Bakugou wasn't even ignoring her on purpose, he was acting the way he always did. _She_ was the one making everything more difficult for herself.

What if they were put on the same team during training? Or even paired up together? If she didn't muster up the courage to resolve this soon, (because Bakugou sure as hell would _not_ ) it would certainly just spell trouble in the unforeseeable future. She might as well just swallow her pride and deal with this- fixing this problem should be her priority right now.

(Thus came the second time Morie willingly talked to Mr Spiky Hair when he was all ruffled and angry.

There was _still_ something she was missing, however, and frustratingly she couldn't place it.)

.

(ಥ﹏ಥ) (ಥ﹏ಥ) (ಥ﹏ಥ)

.

It was Friday, and the first three attempts had gone awry.

Morie arrived to class about thirty minutes early, remembering how early he had been on the first day of the semester. She'd thought that she could corner him before class started, and would be able to avoid a prolonged confrontation. That plan went to shit however, as Bakugou strided into class the minute before homeroom began.

The second attempt was no more successful. Morie hastily rushed to find Bakugou before he joined them at the table as usual. She had seen him queuing, but all she managed to do was step forward and run into Shinsou, who thankfully was not holding food. After apologising to him for the umpteenth time, she realised with a small groan that Bakugou had already secured his food and was already seated with the rest of the guys back at their table.

The third attempt was the worst, however. Fucking hell, who said that _'third time's the charm!_ '

The brown-haired girl got the brilliant idea to wait outside the guy's room before hero training, but she hadn't well, taken into account the presence of the other guys. After some leering from Mineta, she sputtered out, red-faced and embarrassed that she was ' _waiting for Kiri_ ', much to his bemusement. Sero and Kaminari didn't let her hear the end of it, and she even ended up spilling her guts out to Kirishima about why she had been acting weird all day.

Running a hand through brown hair, Morie shook her head exasperatedly and sighed- it looked like desperate times called for desperate measures.

.

BAEREN: you mean the neighbour guy is mad at you again?

BAEREN: don't know him personally;; but since he's acting normal lately maybe he's cooled down?

BAEREN: try talking to him again;; okay but i'm rooting for you my child please don't die!

.

Morie flipped through the text messages from Ren nervously.

School had just ended a while ago, and she now found herself standing outside the Bakugou's home with a small bag of cookies in her hand- the very bag she'd been carrying around the whole day. Her rationale? The Bakugous seemed to share a universal love for food; heck, they were _great_ at cooking (though it went without saying that her dad still cooked the best food.) Morie wasn't proud of her culinary skills, but she was proud of her ability to bake, at the very least.

(No, she definitely had _not_ begged Kiri to ask him for advice; it was not like she was socially inept, or anything!)

Petrified at the thought of Mr Spiky Hair being the one to open the door, she couldn't bring herself to just ring the goddamn doorbell. It must've been a strange sight, watching a small brown-haired girl lose her shit in front of her neighbour's doorstep.

Leaving the cookies outside the gate wouldn't work at all- they would get stepped on, or worse, some ants would get to them before Bakugou did. She paced around a little, feeling her heart race in uncertainty.

 _'Ren, I can't do this.'_ Morie squirmed, feeling helpless. Fiddling with her phone, she took a deep breath and decisively dropped it into her pocket, hearing it clank against the glass marbles she kept on her.

 _Okay. You got this. Just ring the doorbell, pass on the cookies, and you're clear_. _It's simple._

With that thought, the brown-haired girl stepped forward and pressed the doorbell (or would punched be a better word?) before she could lose her nerve.

The next few moments of silence were tense and suspenseful- dark almond eyes craned to see if anyone had opened the door further inside the compound. On an anticlimatic note, her heart sank as she realised that no one was home.

'I'll have to come back later,' Morie inwardly groaned, torn between apprehension and relief. That one moment of spontaneity had been wasted. Moving to walk back to her house and reaching for her phone, a shuffling noise suddenly caught her attention. Her eyes widened somewhat.

Lo and behold, Bakugou Katsuki was turning the corner. She froze as the crimson-eyed boy glanced up momentarily, only for his eyes to meet hers.

 _What was with this sense of d_ _éjà vu_?

The awkward, overwhelming urge to avoid him like how she did with life in general screamed at her to pretend like she didn't see him and to get the fuck back in her house. But instead Morie swallowed, remaining rooted to the spot as Bakugou drew closer, eyes narrowing at the sight of her.

She resisted the strong urge to go ' _fuck this I'm out_ ' at the sheer irony of the situation- before she remembered her earlier painful attempts to speak to the boy.

"B-Bakugou!" Her voice came out louder than expected, and she felt like shrinking back and slapping herself. Of their own accord, her legs were hurrying forward, yet Morie herself felt at a loss for what to do.

"Hah?"

Bakugou's voice dragged out lowly. There was a brief period of silence as he regarded her harshly with narrowed crimson eyes. It was as if he didn't know what to make of her. " 'the hell do you want?"

She shifted around on her feet a little, but she decided to cut to the chase. "About that time a few days ago- "

"- finally grew the balls to face me, huh, dipshit?" The boy bit out, growling at the memory, prompting her to fiddle with her fingers.

' _Shit, he_ _noticed?'_

Bakugou scoffed, his voice bordering on the confines of apathy- yet she wouldn't say that he was mocking her, either. "You weren't fucking _subtle_ about it."

She blinked, letting out a nervous chuckle.

"... yeah, sorry about that," the girl muttered, refraining from flinching as his red eyes stared into her own dark ones. "About that, I- "

"Speak the fuck _up_."

There was a long period of silence. For the impatient person Bakugou was, she silently marveled that he wasn't screaming at her to hurry up and speak already.

Gathering her thoughts at last, Morie cleared her throat embarrassedly. "I wanted to give you something."

Fumbling with the small gift bag full of cookies, she nervously shoved it towards the explosion user, whose face promptly scrunched up.

"It's a peace offering, or s-something," Morie rambled on. "Would it be alright to call a truce?"

More silence.

It was the moment of truth. Her dark eyes settled on him nervously, already expecting orange flames to sputter out from his palms to crush her gift into crumbs; she was practically waiting for him to just flat-out reject it, to throw it back at her face without a second glance...

Yet nothing of the sort happened.

Bakugou stared at the neatly wrapped gift bag like it was a foreign object, his face scrunching up as if he couldn't wrap his mind around it. He let out another scoff as his eyes landed on her, not exactly appearing to be the picture of friendliness, yet not radiating hostility, either.

In a smooth, disgruntled action, the Explosion user shoved the gift bag into his pocket.

"You're so full of _shit_ ," he told her. With the turn of his head, he marched into his house without so much as another glance at her.

 _What?_

Morie gawked after his slouched figure. Something told her, however, that she wasn't the only soul feeling confused.

Brushing her bangs away from her eyes, the Pressure user decided to retreat into her house. Her fingers reached into her bag and brushed against the surface of another gift bag identical to the one she had given Bakugou mere moments ago- thankfully, Morie hadn't needed an extra one after all.

.

Messing around with her phone to send a quick 'thank you' to Ren and Kiri, (she felt like facepalming when the realisation struck her that she hadn't asked him for his number yet,) Morie dropped her phone and sunk herself onto her bed, absent-mindedly listening to the sounds of the television echoing from downstairs.

Her room was dim, streetlights filtering through her windows in dull yellow shades. If she squinted, she could make out bright white lights coming from the house right next to her own; she even thought that if she focused hard enough, she might be able to hear the voices of her loud neighbours.

(' _It's strange,_ ' she found herself thinking, staring up at the shadowed confines of her room. It took her a few moments, but an unspoken question materialised in her mind at last; carefully and tentatively, like strokes painting against a blank canvas. ' _How can someone so direct be such an enigma?'_ )

Where that thought came from, she had no clue. Yet as she rolled about in her covers, she felt that the weight on her shoulders felt slightly lighter than usual.

"... well," her voice bit out after a few seconds in a soft lament, not really addressing anyone in particular. "So that happened."

.

* * *

 **A/N :**

In which Rie tries to give Bakugou cookies the whole day, receiving support from the bros Ren and Kirishima.

Sometimes I want to see the inner workings of Bakugou's mind firsthand.

But hey, kudos if you caught the reference to their first meeting in chapter one! To me, this is as much a Bakugou development fic as well as a Rie development fic- I was thinking about how the Bakugou from the earlier arcs would have destroyed Rie's gift right away, while the current Bakugou is a smidge more mature and is willing to hear her out, impatient as he is. Trying to look at things from his viewpoint, I feel that a reason he didn't get (that) angry this chapter was because he was more mad at the fact that Rie was right about him, than actually at her- though he would never admit it.

Short chapter, but I hope to make it up with the next longer chapter. I was also trying to make this chapter seem chaotic of sorts, what with Rie's inner conflict and jumbled up thoughts. I would describe this chapter as a rollercoaster of emotions, actually.

My updates are probably going to come slower from this point- school is starting, and I feel writer's block pestering me, argh. I'll try to keep updating as much as I can, though!

Don't forget to let me know what you think of this in the reviews, and thanks for reading!

-C


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